Jay Cobb Anderson (vocals, lead guitar, harmonica) / Kellen Asebroek (vocals, rhythm guitar, piano) / Mimi Naja (vocals, mandolin, electric & acoustic guitar) / Jeff Leonard (bass) / Tyler Thompson (drums, banjo)

Fruition’s newest album, Wild As The Night, conveys the emotions of our darkest, and sometimes weakest, moments. Influenced equally by acoustic music as well as rock ‘n’ roll, the eclectic, after-hours vibe comes naturally to the Portland, Oregon-based band. Their unmistakable vocal blend first revealed itself in 2008 when Anderson tagged along with

Asebroek and Naja for an afternoon of busking in Portland. Since that time, they have opened shows for the Wood Brothers, Greensky Bluegrass, and Jack Johnson, and appeared at festivals like Telluride Bluegrass, Bonnaroo, and DelFest. Wild As The Night follows the band’s acclaimed Tucker Martine-produced 2018 album, Watching It All Fall Apart.

The album’s first single, “Wild As The Night,” provides perhaps the album’s most beautiful moment, with vocals from Naja evoking the midnight grief of letting a relationship go. It was released with the announcement of the album, along with the track’s accompanying music video.

Wild As The Night opens with the rollicking and pulsating “Forget About You,” setting the tone of the record as a whole; commiserating in sorrows and lifting spirits. “Sweet Hereafter” follows the album’s self-titled first single with an entrancing drum and piano loop that could be equally at home on a James Blake record. The organic beat gives way to thick repeating harmonies, leaving the listener wanting more after a subtle fade to silence. The album picks back up, tempo-wise, with a quick rock and roll study in city living with “Raining In The City” before it dives back into more classic Fruition territory with a campfire celebration of the Oregon Coast in “Manzanita Moonlight.” “Don’t Give Up On Me”’s seductive groove dips back into the commiseration with the final verse lamenting, “All the world is just empty without somebody to love.”

“For me, I've just always hoped that people relate to the music, whether it's a certain chord movement that lifts their spirit or comforts their sorrow, or a lyric that speaks to them like it was written for them,” Asebroek says. “This music comes from places of vulnerability and I hope people can take their guard down a little while resonating with it.”

Recorded at Silo Sound Studio in Denver, Wild As The Night captures the band’s mindset in the midst of relentless touring. “We were exhausted, but musically firing on all cylinders,” says Thompson, who shares production credit with the band on the new project. “It’s extremely diverse Americana, with a focus on great songwriting and harmonies. We weren’t going for a particular sound, just something that’s honest to our live sound along with a few tricks we learned from our last producer, Tucker Martine.”

With a renewed focus on harnessing the energy of the live experience, Wild As The Night allows listeners to get a glimpse of these longtime friends doing what they do best on stage, whether they’re opening for the Wood Brothers, Greensky Bluegrass, and Jack Johnson, or playing at festivals like Telluride Bluegrass, Bonnaroo, and DelFest.

“Something that has always tied our variable styles together is the honesty in the songwriting, the attention paid toward what is genuinely and deeply catchy, not superficially so,” Asebroek says. “Vocal harmonies have also always been a unifying tool for our band. The Fruition sound has always been about being more than the sum of our parts.”

Former Treepeople guitarist/vocalist Doug Martsch formed Built to Spill in 1992 with Brett Netson and Ralf Youtz as the band's original members. In an interview with Spin, Martsch stated that he intended to change the band's lineup for every album, himself being the only permanent member.[citation needed] The band's name came from an invented phrase in an exquisite corpse-like game Martsch played with his wife. After the band's first album, Ultimate Alternative Wavers, was released in 1993, Netson and Youtz were replaced by Brett Nelson and Andy Capps for 1994's There's Nothing Wrong with Love. A compilation album called The Normal Years followed, which included recordings by both lineups. Built to Spill Caustic Resin, an EP that features Martsch with the members of Caustic Resin, was released in 1995. Between recording albums in 1995, the band gained exposure by playing on the Lollapalooza tour. Also in 1995, the band collaborated on the song "Still Flat" for the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Bothered, produced by the Red Hot Organization.

Martsch signed Built to Spill to Warner Bros. Records in 1995. Unlike many artists signed to major labels, the deal the band brokered with Warner Bros. allowed it to retain a large degree of creative control over future albums. Built to Spill produced its first major-label release in 1997 with Perfect from Now On. By this time, the band consisted of Martsch, Nelson, Netson, and Scott Plouf. Perfect from Now On was met with critical success and caused Built to Spill to become one of the United States' most recognizable indie rock bands. Before releasing another album, Martsch made Nelson and Plouf permanent members of the band. In 1999, the band released Keep It Like a Secret to continued critical success and for the first time, significant commercial success. Live was released in 2000, and the band's fifth studio album, Ancient Melodies of the Future, was released in 2001.

In 2002, Martsch released Now You Know, a solo album with both blues and folk elements. He performed numerous solo concerts in support of the album. Built to Spill was on hiatus for most of this period.

Doug Martsch performing with the band at Primavera Sound Festival.

Warner Bros. Records optioned the band for another album. From 2003 to 2005, Built to Spill toured extensively, performing over 150 dates that included new songs from as early as 2004. Its sixth studio album, You in Reverse, was recorded in Portland in 2004 but was not released until April 11, 2006. The band's official lineup for the album was Martsch, Nelson, Plouf, and Jim Roth, who was formerly only a touring guitarist. Brett Netson provided guitar work on several songs and later rejoined the band as a full-time member.

After the release of You in Reverse, Built to Spill continued touring almost non-stop. In March 2006, Martsch suffered a detached retina, which required surgery. This forced the band to miss an appearance at the South by Southwest music festival and postpone several dates of the tour. Even worse news came when former drummer Andy Capps was found dead in his home on May 18, 2006.

The band resumed touring on June 3, 2006, with a show that included four new songs. This show and many on the tour included the dedication of the song "Car" to Capps, who had played on the track when it was recorded.

Warner Bros. Records stated that Built to Spill had been recording its follow-up to You in Reverse on and off during the 2006 tour,[8] but nothing appeared until the July 10, 2007, release of a 12" single, "They Got Away"/"Re-Arrange". "They Got Away" is a heavily reggae-influenced original song, while "Re-Arrange" is a cover of a song by the reggae band the Gladiators.

The US tour was scheduled through October 2007, followed by an Australian tour. Martsch stated in a September 2007 interview that he didn't want to tour in the United States again until the band records; however, the band then announced a one-month US national tour for spring of 2008.

In a March 2008 interview with Playback, Martsch spoke of new material from the Halo Benders, a collaboration between Martsch, Calvin Johnson, Steve Fisk, former Treepeople member Wayne "Rhino" Flower, and original Built to Spill drummer Ralf Youtz, but "we started that about a year ago, we have not even got anything off the ground." Later in the interview, Martsch gave his perspective on the future of Built to Spill past the current material; "I do think that Built to Spill could be something better than ever just because our lineup is better than ever ... I think there is potential for the five of us to collaborate on something that is just way better than anything that I have ever come up with by myself or that we have done in the past." Martsch also interjected that "This coming record we're not doing that—it's mostly going to be songs that I have been working on." The band extended its 2008 tour in the United States and Europe, performing the album Perfect from Now On in its entirety.

In 2009, the band announced its next album, There Is No Enemy. The tracklist and album art were revealed on August 17, 2009, the first single, "Hindsight", was released on September 8, and the album was released on October 6, 2009. The band toured from August through November 2009 and for much of 2010, including performances at the Pitchfork Music Festival and the All Tomorrow's Parties festival, curated by The Simpsons creator Matt Groening.

In July 2010, Martsch appeared on the first release from Brett Nelson's the Electric Anthology Project, in which Nelson creates covers from an artist in a synth-pop style, featuring the vocalist from the original version. This self-titled EP, which featured one song from each Built to Spill record (using anagrams of their original titles) and newly recorded vocals by Doug Martsch, received a moderately favorable review in Pitchfork, even though "it was obviously released as a goof," and the "good moments almost make you wish Martsch had taken this concept more seriously." In September 2010, the band released a video for its single "Hindsight" from There Is No Enemy, directed by Bob Odenkirk.

On October 25, 2012, Built to Spill played a secret, invitation-only show at the Bunk Bar in Portland, Oregon, with a new rhythm section consisting of Jason Albertini (Helvetia, Duster) on bass and Stephen Gere (Uzala, Brett Netson Band, Atomic Mama) on drums. On January 7, 2013, Martsch, Netson and guitarist Jim Roth announced that Albertini and Gere would be permanent replacements for Plouf and Nelson, who were departing the band amicably. Built to Spill continued touring periodically as a five-piece but didn't release another album for several years. Martsch would later state that a 2012 album was abandoned due to the departure of Nelson and Plouf and his dissatisfaction with the songs.

Untethered Moon was released on April 18, 2015. The album was recorded as a trio with Martsch, Albertini, and Gere and was co-produced by Martsch and frequent Built to Spill guest keyboardist and Quasi frontman Sam Coomes. The band toured summer/fall 2015 in support of the new album.

Brett Netson and Jim Roth left the band in the latter half of 2015 and a trio lineup of Martsch, Albertini and Gere debuted on a spring 2016 West Coast run.

On September 14, 2017 Built to Spill announced on their Facebook page that they were moving on from Warner Brothers and taking over the management of builttospill.com.

In October 2018, Martsch announced through a post on the Built to Spill Facebook page that the band will return to its initial idea of having a shifting rotation of members for each release. So BtS transitioned from a five-piece to a trio with new members Melanie Radford on bass and Teresa Esguerra on drums. On June 12, 2020, they released the cover album Built to Spill Plays the Songs of Daniel Johnston.

Current line-up:

Doug Martsch – lead vocals, lead and rhythm guitars (1992–present)

Melanie Radford – bass (2019–present)

Teresa Esquerra – drums (2019–present)

By the time 2019 came to its fitful end, Andrew Marlin knew he was tired of touring. He was grateful, of course, for the ascendancy of Mandolin Orange, the duo he’d cofounded in North Carolina with fiddler Emily Frantz exactly a decade earlier. With time, they had become new flagbearers of the contemporary folk world, sweetly singing soft songs about the hardest parts of our lives, both as people and as a people. Their rise—particularly crowds that grew first to fill small dives, then the Ryman, then amphitheaters the size of Red Rocks—humbled Emily and Andrew, who became parents to Ruby late in 2018. They’d made a life of this.

Still, every night, Andrew especially was paid to relive a lifetime of grievances and griefs onstage. After 2019’s Tides of a Teardrop, a tender accounting of his mother’s early death, the process became evermore arduous, even exhausting. What’s more, those tunes—and the band’s entire catalogue, really—conflicted with the name Mandolin Orange, an early-20s holdover that never quite comported with the music they made. Nightly soundchecks, at least, provided temporary relief, as the band worked through a batch of guarded but hopeful songs written just after Ruby’s birth. They offered a new way to think about an established act.

Those tunes are now Watchhouse, which would have been Mandolin Orange’s sixth album but is instead their first also under the name Watchhouse, a moniker inspired by Marlin’s place of childhood solace. The name, like the new record itself, represents their reinvention as a band at the regenerative edges of subtly experimental folk-rock. Challenging as they are charming, and an inspired search for personal and political goodness, these nine songs offer welcome lessons about what any of us might become when the night begins to break.

“We’re different people than when we started this band,” Marlin says, reflecting on all these shifts. “We’re setting new intentions, taking control of this thing again.”

It just happened.

Perhaps, it could be attributed to cosmic design, good old-fashioned magic, or the unspoken, yet understood bond all twins share. One day back in 2007, identical twin sisters Katelyn Shook [vocals, guitar] and Laurie Shook [banjo, vocals] found themselves writing, recording, and performing as Shook Twins. To their recollection, the pair never hatched a plan or even properly discussed it.

Hundreds of shows, four albums and 2 EPs later, the duo continue to tread this path.

“Neither of us remember a time where we planned things out, it all unfolded naturally,” affirms Katelyn. “We simply started to play out and call ourselves Shook Twins, because that’s simply who we are.”

“We never set specific goals either,” adds Laurie. “We talk about our hopes and dreams, but we’ve just let everything grow organically with the band. We’ll see what happens next.”

Since their 2008 debut You Can Have The Rest, Shook Twins have conjured up dreamy folk with ghostly traces of Americana tradition uplifted by transcendently hummable melodies and lilting cinematic instrumentation. Along the way, legendary New York Times best-selling author Neil Gaiman, USA Today, Langhorne Slim, Mason Jennings, and more fell under their spell and publicly professed adoration.

Simultaneously, they’ve graced legendary stages such as Red Rocks Amphitheatre with Gregory Alan Isakov and Ani DiFranco in addition to sharing bills with The Lumineers, The Head and the Heart, Sarah Jarosz, The Wood Brothers, and many others. Not to mention, they’ve carved a home for themselves after playing Northwest String Summit and Oregon County Fair over ten times each as well as appearing at High Sierra Music Festival, Lightning In A Bottle, Bumbershoot, Hulaween, Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Electric Forest, Summer Camp Music Festival, and beyond. During 2012, the band welcomed multi-instrumentalist and “everything dude” Niko Slice on guitar, mandolin, and bass. Rounding out the sound (and the family) further, keyboardist and bassist Aber Miller joined the fold in 2018. Additionally, they welcome a rotating quiver of dynamic drummers, namely Alex Radakovich, Darren Garvey, and Simon Lucas.

“We essentially morph into different settings,” observes Katelyn. “We can be a mellow duo, folk-rock club band, or weird late-night band. We love this sense of musical diversity.”

Honing their vision like never before yet again, the group reached a critical and creative high watermark with 2019’s Some Good Lives. The standout “Stay Wild” generated nearly 4 million total streams. In addition to praise from Glide Magazine, Relix, and more, Paste praised, “Shook Twins have real sonic versatility,” while Atwood Magazine hailed it as “a record of musical and emotional maturity that goes beyond in nearly every aspect of the word.” Popmatters put it best, “‘Some Good Lives’ is as affirming as it is magical.”

After a quiet 2020, Shook Twins take another step forward in 2021, writing their next chapter. As always, each album, song, and show services a higher calling for the group.

“For us, music is a way to give back,” states Laurie. “It’s wonderful when our songs help someone through something. At each show, we have an offering to give. It’s our way to hopefully bring joy to people.”

“When we play, it’s a night for everyone to escape,” Katelyn concurs. “We all need that as humans—maybe now more than ever.”

Whether or not they plan to, Shook Twins foster a lasting bond with listeners worldwide as familiar and familial as their own.

“When you listen to us, we want you to remember how to feel more comfortable in your own skin,” they agree. “That goes beyond the show. We hope you walk away feeling more like yourself, because we’re fully ourselves on stage. We’re not shy. We have a sense of humor. We don’t ever take ourselves too seriously. We have fun up there. That’s our message through the music.”

Portland, OR-based singer, songwriter, and producer John Craigie adapts moments of solitude into stories perfectly suited for old Americana fiction anthologies. Instead of leaving them on dog-eared pages, he projects them widescreen in flashes of simmering soul and folk eloquence. On his 2022 full-length album, Mermaid Salt, we witness revenge unfurled in flames, watch a landlocked mermaid’s escape, and fall asleep under a meteor shower.

After selling out shows consistently coast-to-coast and earning acclaim from Rolling Stone, Glide Magazine, No Depression, and many more, his unflinching honesty ties these ten tracks together.

The album comes from the solitude and loneliness of lockdown in the Northwest. Someone whose life was touring, traveling, and having lots of human interaction is faced with an undefinable amount of time without those things. So, he began writing new songs and envisioning an album that was different from his past records. The sound of everyone playing live in a room together was traded for the sound of song construction with an unknown amount of instruments and musicians—a quiet symphony.

Rather than steal away to a cabin or hole up in a house with friends, Craigie opted to set up shop at the OK Theater in Enterprise, OR with longtime collaborator Bart Budwig behind the board as engineer. A rotating cast of musicians shuffled in and out safely, distinguishing the process from the communal recording of previous releases. The core players included Justin Landis, Cooper Trail, and Nevada Sowle. Meanwhile, Shook Twins lent their signature vocal harmonies, Bevin Foley arranged, composed, and performed strings, and Ben Walden dropped in for guitar and violin plucking parts.

“Instruments were scattered around the theater and microphones placed in various spots,” he recalls. “It’s hard to say who all played what exactly.”

As such, the spirit in the room guided everyone. On “Distance,” warm piano glows alongside a glitchy beat as he softly laments, “I could lose you to the loneliness, vast and infinite.” Then, there’s “Helena.” A jazz-y bass line snakes through head-nodding percussion as he relays an incendiary parable of a mother and son in exile. He croons, “She said fire was how we’d make ‘em pay. As I ran across the fields, she would scream, ‘Light it up son’,” uplifted in a conflagration of Shook Twins’ harmonies. Strings echo in the background as his vocals quake front-and-center on “Street Mermaid.”

Elsewhere, the guitar-laden “Microdose” beguiles and bewitches with an intoxicating refrain dedicated to a time where he “Microdosed for months and months, dissolve my ego in the acid.” Everything culminates on the glassy beat-craft and glistening guitars of “Perseids” where he sings, “There’s always a new heart after the old heart. Maybe a new heart is enough.”

During this period, he explored the environment around him “from the Oregon coasts to the waterfalls” and read books about Levon Helm, Billie Holiday, and Ani DiFranco.

“I got time to silence all the noise and chaos of touring and look inward,” he observes.

Craigie had reached a series of watershed moments in tandem with Mermaid Salt. Beyond headlining venues such as The Fillmore and gracing the stage of Red Rocks Amphitheater, his 2020 offering Asterisk The Universe earned unanimous tastemaker applause. Rolling Stone noted, “tracks like ‘Don’t Deny’ and ‘Climb Up’ bridge a Sixties and Seventies songwriter vibe with the laid-back cool of Jack Johnson, an early supporter of Craigie,” while Glide Magazine hailed it as “one of his best records.” Perhaps, No Depression put it best, “For many weary and heavy- listeners hearted, the album might be exactly what they need.” Along the way, he generated over 40 million total streams and counting, speaking to his unassuming impact.

In the end, Craigie offers a sense of peace on Mermaid Salt.

The all-female supergroup Sideboob returned to Northwest String Summit this year for a stellar set of 90’s girl-power pop and good times for all. Organized by Laurie and Katelyn Shook (a.k.a. the Shook Twins), The Shook Twins welcomed Mimi Naja of Fruition, Allie Kral of Yonder Mountain String Band, and a bevy of other badass ladies to throw a sing-a-long party of epic proportions for Sideboob’s set in the Kinfolk Tent. Attendees responded joyously to the performance, drawing a crowd with their celebration of sisterhood that spilled out of the tent and then some.

These numbers were a product both of Sideboob’s incredibly talented lineup of musicians as well as their set list consisting of feel-good covers of insanely popular material. Running through pretty much all of the biggest acts of their formative years, Sideboob took to the stage and clearly had a ball, and the group’s energy was infectious. From teen-pop divas of the 90’s, such as Brittany Spears and Christina Aquilera, to established stars from the era, such as Whitney Houston and Sheryl Crow, and even one-hit wonders like 4 Non Blondes , the setlist cherry picked from an elite sisterhood of chart toppers.

What began as a spirited one-off show has grown to be one of the most anticipated sets of the entire Northwest String Summit. Sideboob has moved from a gaggle of folks surrounding the smallest stage to packing floors to the point that fans barely able to move, much less dance in the second-largest music staging area. With the level of production we saw this year, including dancers of both genders, costumes, and, obviously, stellar renditions of covers that appeal to the musical DNA of most audience members, there is only one logical step left—the main stage.

This is the story of Steve Poltz.

Some people start life with a plan. Not Steve. He opens himself up to the universe in a way most of us will never be loose enough to achieve, and the universe responds with a wink, a seemingly bottomless well of inspiration, and the talent to truly connect with an audience. While 2021 could have found him adrift, faced with a tour moratorium the likes of which he hadn’t experienced in decades, it opened a door — literally, his friend Oliver Wood of The Wood Brother’s door — to creating an exuberant, thoughtful batch of songs that celebrate life in all of its stages.

The resulting album is called Stardust & Satellites [Red House / Compass Records].

“I just make stuff up,” he exclaims, quipping, “it sounded good to say that.” Steve is the sort of prolific writer and collaborator who downplays what seems like a non-stop geyser of creativity. “I have no rhyme or reason for what I do. It’s all magic. I go by instinct. It just felt right, so I went with it.”

The “it” in question is one of those serendipitous situations that were created by the pandemic. Steve, a road dog and performance junkie who regularly spends 300+ days a year on the road, bringing it to the people, should’ve been on tour last year. Esteemed Nashville roots rockers The Wood Brothers (Chris Wood being a former neighbor to Steve), also should’ve been on tour. Stuck in Nashville, Steve often joined the Wood Brothers for outdoor socially distant hangs, and, on a whim, decided to record one song with Oliver Wood and Jano Rix.

They cut “Frenemy,” a wistful, “keep your friends close and your enemies even closer” song that made it clear to all involved that they’d stumbled onto something special. With no studio clock ticking, no schedule or deadlines to meet, the companionship and ability to collaborate with like-minded musicians added a joyful diversion to what was a boring-ass year. Musically, the sky was the limit, and the group of musicians and friends embarked on a musical experience that found cast and crew reaching toward the stratosphere with Stardust & Satellites, which Oliver and Jano Rix of The Wood Brothers produced.

The album begins with the lithe fingerpicking of “Wrong Town,” an anthem summing up the life of an itinerant songwriter/performer, where he declares, “The truth is I have no plan at all,” going on to cite Emmylou Harris and Don Was as his style icons. It’s a “pleased to meet me” sort of song, and it was written to greet the audience at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in 2019. “I wanted to write an opening song,” Steve recalls.“I sat down with fellow Nashville songwriter Anthony da Costa, and ‘Wrong Town’ just appeared.”

But even gonzo guys have their moments where the cycle of life seems to be almost too much to bear. “Conveyor Belt” is a heartfelt song, a song that could only be written at a certain point in one’s life, and that point is when you’re saying goodbye to your parents and addressing your own mortality. Steve explains, "My mom passed away, and then a few years later my dad crossed over. I started thinking that I was next on the conveyor belt in a factory on the wheel of time. Next thing I know, I grabbed my guitar and this song appeared to me like a gift. It didn’t exist and then voila, there it was. I feel lucky to be a conduit."

The song is written over a gentle, repetitive melody that moves along with the inevitability of ye old sands of time. For fans, it’s a different side of Steve, using a voice and a new solemnity for a song that touches a universal nerve.

On one of the last nights of the recording sessions, Steve locked himself up in his writing room and within an hour, had conjured the catchy, effervescent “Can O’ Pop,” destined to be the radio single.

“Jano from The Wood Brothers was leaving the studio, and I asked him to give me a beat, and I told him I’d write a song with the beat he gave me,” recalls Steve. The exuberant, syncopated groove seems to bubble up as Steve admits, in his best mid-period Dylan, “I want to feel the fizzy rhythm with you.”

“Hey, Everyone loves a can of pop” he cracks.

Among other highlights, “It’s Baseball Season” seesaws on a sunny acoustic guitar as he pays homage to America’s favorite pastime. Poltz is a true fan, and the song’s laid-back, relaxed vibe speaks of carefree days at the ballpark. Steve even pays tribute to legendary baseball announcer Ernie Harwell.

With a cult following that includes fellow musicians, regular folks and festival goers who stumble onto his performances, there’s no common denominator to Steve’s fans. Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia and raised in San Diego, CA Steve toured and recorded with San Diego cult favorites The Rugburns (they still play annual sold-out reunion shows). But it was through his creative partnership with Jewel that he vaulted into the national spotlight; co-writing her multiplatinum Billboard Hot 100-busting smash, “You Were Meant For Me,” and continues to work with her to this day.

Over the years, the Nashville-based troubadour has built a fascinating solo catalog, earmarked by his debut, One Left Shoe, Dreamhouse, Folk Singer, and 2019’s Shine On. No Depression crowned him, "A sardonic provocateur with a lighthearted acoustic-driven wit, suggesting at times a sunnier, less psychedelic Todd Snider, or maybe a less wan, washed Jackson Brown,” while the Associated Press dubbed him "part busker, part Iggy Pop and part Robin Williams, a freewheeling folkie with a quick wit and big heart.”

Among other collaborations, GRAMMY-winning bluegrass phenom Billy Strings tapped him to co-write “Leaders” on 2021’s Renewal and he’s co-written with Molly Tuttle, Sierra Hull, Nicki Bluhm, Oliver Wood and even Mojo Nixon.

He’s resumed his tour schedule, and when he comes to your town, he’ll say, as he does every night, “This is the best show I’ve ever played.” And hell, maybe it just is.

Ultimately, Steve never needed a plan.

He’s something of a natural, after all.

Lindsay Lou has been making soulful, poignant music for the last decade. An undeniable powerhouse, Lou’s remarkable gifts as a singer, songwriter, musician and performer demand the listener’s attention. Her singing floats over the masterful playing and deep groove of her band with both a fierce intensity and a tender intimacy.

Born the daughter of a coal miner and the granddaughter of a Rainbow Gathering healer, Lindsay Lou grew up with room in her heart for both blue collar grit and mystical mind expansion. She describes her family as a group of close knit creatives, their lives influenced heavily by her maternal grandmother’s radical ideals and zest for life. Surrounded by the Great Lakes and her musical family, she naturally rooted herself in the Michigan music community.

Raised with this sense of community, Lou recalls always being surrounded by music. So when the time came for her to join a band, for Lou, it felt like finding a home away from home. Her career, like her life, has been full of great moments of kismet. Growing up, Lou built her repertoire by practicing her vocals, and she picked up the guitar so she could play with her Uncle Stuckey. The skills she honed during the days of learning to sing and play with her family led to a wide variety of musical opportunities, singing in choir in high school, attending an elite summer program at Interlochen on scholarship, and winning awards for her talents. It wasn't before long that Lou began to tour the world with a band of her own, The Flatbellys, and later The Sweet Water Warblers. The siren songbird and her band flew down South to take their place among friends in Nashville, TN.

The move prompted Lindsay Lou’s fourth album, Southland (released April 2018), which is a transformative and heart-wrenching ten-song stunner. Lou’s voice—and its unique ability to create an expansive, almost physically tangible soundscape—carries each song on Southland forward. Produced by Sam Kassirer (Josh Ritter, Lake Street Dive, Elephant Revival), Southland expanded on her 2015 crossover album, Ionia, which had staked her unique sound apart from the more bluegrass stylings of her earlier releases.

Today, touring nationally and internationally year round, Lindsay Lou and her band continue to collect a mass of friends and fans along the way. Notable U.S. festival plays include Telluride Bluegrass festival, Merlefest, Stagecoach, Redwing, ROMP, GreyFox, and a slew of others. Abroad, they have appeared at Scotland’s Shetland Island Folk Fest and the Celtic Connections tour, Australia’s National Folk Festival, and others. Of the live show, fRoots Magazine reviewed "...(Lindsay Lou is) the most affectingly expressive singer since Amy Winehouse, backed by the new Punch Brothers.” The Boot, who featured Lindsay Lou Band as a “Can’t Miss Act" at AmericanaFest 2018, says “...Lou brings introspection and masterful vocal work to her live show.”

A trailblazer in the music community, Lou's recent set of singles, The Suite Sweets, make it clear that she can’t be pigeon-holed into any prefabricated formula. Lindsay Lou continues to push boundaries with a sincerity and grace that will disarm even your republican grandma.

Larry Keel is an award-winning innovative flat picking guitarist and singer/songwriter hailing from Appalachia. Raised in a musical family steeped in the mountain culture of the region, Keel began from an early age to forge a distinctive sound, taking traditional music and infusing it with modern light. With the acoustic guitar Keel has brought the flat picking form to its highest level of sophistication and sonic power with his muscular, yet refined style of playing. As a composer and singer, Keel integrates raw honesty and charming grit to form a unique brand of music he calls 'experimental folk', songwriting that is filled with reality, imagination, imagery and mood. He has appeared on over 20 albums, 12 of which he produced, and has written songs that have been recorded and performed by distinguished artists including Grammy-award winners Del McCoury and The Infamous Stringdusters. Keel has collaborated and continues to merge creative forces with some of the greatest artists in modern roots music such as Tyler Childers, Billy Strings, Al DiMeola, Tony Rice, Keller Williams and Sam Bush, to name a few.

His latest creation is a solo album titled American Dream, whose every component—from the writing and arranging, to the instrumental and vocal performances, to the recording and production—spring straight from the mind, soul, and hands of the Virginia-born artist. Each of the album’s 10 tracks were composed by Keel and serve as an autobiographical overview of his life and career, as well as the influences and episodes that have shaped his personal perspective along the way.

Jackie Venson is a multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter known far and wide for her complexly beautiful music and blazing guitar skills. Born and raised in Austin, Texas, Jackie has traveled the world playing to massive crowds both as a headliner and as support for major acts such as Gary Clark Jr, Melissa Etheridge, Aloe Blacc, Citizen Cope to name a few. With the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, the cancellation of her entire tour schedule, and the wave of social change sweeping across the country in 2020, Jackie committed herself to releasing more music than ever before, connecting with her fans directly and speaking up about the change she wanted to see in her city and country. Since then, Jackie has released 2 studio albums, 2 live albums under her name and several electronic albums under her side project titled Jackie the robot. During the pandemic, Jackie Venson also made her National TV Performance Debut on Austin City Limits 46th season, a huge honor for the native Austinite. Venson’s most recent release, “Love Transcends”, Venson firmly established herself as a sonic force to be reckoned with out of Austin, Texas.

Rainbow Girls:

"A gang of sweet angels punching you in the heart."

Rejecting the influence of fleeting scenes and encroaching developers; the Laurelthirst Public House has always stayed in tune with its generations of muddy patrons carving out lives as blue-collar artists. "The Thirst" -- Portland, Oregon's oldest independent venue -- has always been a sort of misfit stronghold -- a sanctuary for the same kind of spirit that sustained local punk legends Dead Moon and outsider folk hero Michael Hurley. It's also become a lifeblood for working-class musicians like Taylor Kingman. Most nights, you'll likely find the TK & The Holy Know-Nothings songwriter and lead vocalist on stage (or at the bar). Ask around the place and you'll quickly uncover Kingman's reputation as the sort of songwriter who makes other songwriters jealous, even angry. You'll also hear about his hustle as both a player and writer, as those same songwriters line up to play with him. It's led to countless projects, exploring myriad concepts and styles, and making the sort of honest music that stands starkly, alongside the Laurelthirst, against the backdrop of a city quickly fading under the lacquer of gentrification.

TK & The Holy Know-Nothings is perhaps Kingman's most beloved project. Half-dutifully and half-facetiously self-dubbed "psychedelic doom boogie," the group was born out of Kingman's desire to create a loose, groove-heavy bar band that never sacrifices the importance of good, honest songwriting. Doing so required pulling together a local supergroup of friends, neighbors, and fellow Laurelthirst royalty, including drummer Tyler Thompson and multi-instrumentalists Jay Cobb Anderson (lead guitar, harmonica), Lewi Longmire (bass, guitar, pedal steel, flugelhorn, mellotron, lap steel) and Sydney Nash (keys, bass, slide guitar, cornet). It's a band of deeply contrasting styles buoyed by a sincere and palpable mutual trust -- one that allows them to find and lose the groove with the same ease. They build graceful, spaced-out landscapes around Kingman's storytelling -- his voice ragged and broken one moment and raging the next -- only to deconstruct them through a fit of manic and often dissonant rabbit holes. And Kingman's equally irreverent, delicate, and cerebral first-person narratives somehow merge seamlessly with it all.

The Incredible Heat Machine, the band's forthcoming album, is an album of growth. It doesn't diverge all that much from 2019's Arguably OK (and 2020's B-sides EP Pickled Heat). Its story is simply that of a working band coming off the road and going right back to work, intent on capturing the growth and wear amassed in the meantime. Both albums were recorded in just a few mid-winter days (two years apart) in Enterprise, Oregon, a quiet cowboy town at the foot of the snow-capped Wallowa Mountains. They were both made live, with no overdubs, on stage at the historic OK Theatre, where much of their budget was again spent on keeping the heat on. And again, Thompson engineered on the fly with the help of old buddy and local theater resident Bart Budwig. While Arguably OK introduced listeners to the band's distinct brand of unbound rock & roll infused with the strange, wide-open, outsider nature of Western country; The Incredible Heat Machine just goes stranger, wider, and further out. Lyrically, Kingman delves deeper into the struggles of the working-class musician with themes of substance abuse and redemption, companionship as salvation, and the ever-present shadow of disillusionment. His lyrics are again intensely honest, full of all the lessons learned and ignored, while always tempered with mystery and room for the listener.

"I like to alternate between plain-spoken truth and fragmented visions of painfully vivid dreamscapes," Kingman notes. "Songs need a listener to be complete. And I don't want to tell the listener what to think or do. It's our job to present honesty, good or bad: an unfinished song from an unfinished life. And everybody hearing it gets a co-write because each moment is unique."

This is apparent from the start, as album opener "Frankenstein" comes to life with deceptive lyrical hooks, coupling the pieced-together aesthetic of the famous resurrected corpse with generous metaphorical roundabouts. Its psychedelic wormholes envelop the song in warm, trippy veils, transcending the confines of its Western country roots to an altogether more experimentally robust misfit anthem.

"Serenity Prayer" follows with the Sisyphean journey of a working musician who makes good for a few hours each evening playing at the local tavern before finding themselves inevitably drawn to a seat at the bar again. It's an entreaty to oneself to find the strength to change tomorrow, as Kingman writes, "Grant me the serenity to pay for this in change," and "Grant me the wisdom to know I owe the difference," before always returning to, "But a friend behind the bar is a mighty fine deal."

Kingman's songwriting vacillates between the specter of longing and the levity of self-awareness. "The trick is to be honest," Kingman says. "And there are many ways to be honest." It comes in songs as crushing as "Hell of a Time" and "I Don't Need Anybody"; in irreverent tracks like "I Lost My Beer," a love letter to a misplaced libation that is already a favorite among Laurelthirst patrons; and in the rattling regret of hangover lament, "Bottom of the Bottle." And then there's the title track and its "Preprise," a two-part roadhouse opus that splits The Incredible Heat Machine, comprising a formidable showcase of TK & The Holy Know-Nothings' divergent styles, both sonically and lyrically. "I want a line to fill me with golden light and then leave me alone in the pale desert with just the wind and my heartbeat," Kingman shares.

Finally, the album closer "Just the Right Amount" ties the album's themes together as Kingman places himself on stage, staring at the mic and the crowd, reflecting on the experiences and decisions that led to these songs. "I think he liked the way it sounded / Drunk and bleeding on a borrowed mic / I've never seen a bar so crowded / Dead quiet on a Saturday night / Maybe one to get them crying / Maybe one to help them fight / You gotta do a little wrong, kid / To get that kind of right."

"At our core, we are working musicians. And that's why we will always be a bar band no matter where we play. We are players and that's all we wanna do. We live for songs and we take them very seriously. Even the stupidest ones. It's all sacred and that's why it should be mangled by children."

TK & The Holy Know-Nothings' new album is above all things true to the moment it was created, full of lessons unheeded and questions unanswered. In the end, it will always exist in that moment and whatever moment it shares with its listeners. Kingman sums it up best: "The Incredible Heat Machine is a haunted jukebox on wheels and God's own check engine light. It's a locomotive composed of living parts linked by some buck-toothed telepathy allowing it to make it down the tracks where there is no final answer or destination, just movement and feeling."

The songs are spacious — airy vocals float atop lovely, languid melodies and gentle percussion, adorned with softly-swelling synths and thoughtfully-plucked fiddle and mandolin. It's a sound that compels comparisons to both songwriting principals like Fleetwood Mac, Neko Case or Mazzy Star as well as indie folk contemporaries like Jade Bird, Haley Heynderickx, or Shannon Lay. The Deer have formed a breed of indie folk entirely uninhibited, all its own, and absolutely captivating.. From Austin, they are borne of a densely creative atmosphere, and stand out with their versatile and accessible sound. Members include frontwoman Grace Rowland (The Blue Hit), upright bassist Jesse Dalton (MilkDrive, Green Mountain Grass), guitarist Michael McLeod (Good Field, Linklater film composer), drummer Alan Eckert (Dimitri’s Ascent, A Live One), and string player Noah Jeffries (MilkDrive, South Austin Jug Band). Frequent collaborator Roger Sellers (Bayonne) also adds some of his touch to their songwriting and production.

What began as the solo recording project of singer/songwriter Grace Rowland (formerly Grace Park), the group formed its core membership in 2012 under the band name Grace Park & The Deer, and released "An Argument for Observation." The songs have a dark, folky feel; eerily lilting melodies with unexpected subjects like stalking, mysterious neighbors, and violent clashes. Through the recording process they found a spark lit by natural chemistry, on and off the stage, and they began performing and touring together with alternating guests - some of whom ended up becoming permanent members. Grace’s screen-printed cover art would later be a finalist for Austin Music Industry Awards’ Best Album Art for 2014.

In 2013 they suffered the devastating loss of dear friend and band member Stephanie Bledsoe to an accident on her farm. The group galvanized under the name The Deer, and collaborated on songs dedicated to her memory for their second release, "On the Essence of the Indomitable Spirit" (2015). Dark with a tinge of hope, it features special guests Dennis Ludiker (Asleep at the Wheel), Roger Sellers (Bayonne), Trevor Smith (Wood & Wire), Karl Kummerle, and Noah Jeffries (MilkDrive). With a maturing sound, The Deer were runners-up for the Austin Music Awards’ Best Performing Folk Band that year, and began touring more frequently.

Their 2016 album Tempest & Rapture marries their brand of moody Southern Gothic with symphonic psychedelia. It’s split into two stylistic realms: the first side is rooted in muddy folk and surf-country, and the other side wanders far out in a dream-pop and psych-rock wilderness - all with their distinctly curious and incantational poetic content printed within. It’s their largest album, boasting 17 tracks on gorgeous 180-gm bottle-green vinyl; a double LP to house its gigantic sound. It saw the return of guest collaborator Roger Sellers, and guest string players Dennis Ludiker and Noah Jeffries (who would soon become a full-on Deer). The jacket design by Grace Rowland features her cut-paper artwork, and ranked among Austin Music Industry Awards’ Top 5 Best Album Art category last year. The Deer were also runners-up a second time for the Austin Music Awards’ Best Folk Band.

The Deer released Do No Harm November 1, 2019 on Keeled Scales / Secretly Distribution. The band share a home with the critically acclaimed indie label — Austin, Texas — where they've been honored by Austin Music Awards as Best Performing Folk Act and Runner Up: Best Austin Band. On the new LP, it's easy to hear why. Though genre-fluidity and sonic experimentation are at the core of The Deer's work, their new LP lays down distinction with a graceful thump — a beautiful, confident conclusion of audial explorations. You can hear where they've been, and where they're headed.

THERE IS A FEELING OF UNBRIDLED LIFE FOUND IN THE WILD CORNERS OF OUR WORLD. IN THE EXPANSIVE POSSIBILITY OF A MOUNTAIN TOP, THE CHAOTIC FAMILIARITY OF ENDLESS FIELDS OF SNOW, THE ROAR OF THE OCEAN, OR THE SOLITARY SERENITY OF THE MOST REMOTE DESERT. IT IS IN THESE PLACES AND MOMENTS THAT PIXIE AND THE PARTYGRASS BOYS FIND INSPIRATION, CRAFTING MUSIC THAT CHANNELS THE SAME HIGHS, LOWS, AND IMPROVISATIONAL IN-BETWEENS.

HAILED AS "THE HOTTEST BAND IN THE WASATCH" BY THE INTERMOUNTAIN ACOUSTIC MUSIC ASSOCIATION, PARTYGRASS ISN'T EXACTLY BLUEGRASS, OR NEWGRASS, OR POP, OR PUNK, OR ROCK AND ROLL. THEY FALL SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN IT ALL, AND THAT’S EXACTLY HOW THEY LIKE IT. DRAWING INFLUENCE FROM THE BLUEGRASS ROOTS OF APPALACHIA AND TRANSPORTING IT STRAIGHT TO THE WESTERN EDGE OF THE ROCKIES, PIXIE AND THE PARTYGRASS BOYS CREATE A UNIQUELY AMERICAN SOUND. INSPIRED BY LANDSCAPES FROM COAST TO COAST, THE GROUP COMBINES CLASSICAL TRAINING WITH JAZZ, BROADWAY, POP-PUNK, AND AN UNABASHED LOVE FOR HAVING A DAMN GOOD TIME.

THE BAND HAS BEEN TOURING WHILE STEADILY GAINING A FANBASE NATIONWIDE AND PLAYING FESTIVALS INCLUDING: HIGH SIERRA, DELFEST, PEACHFEST, WINTERWONDERGRASS, ARISE, AND HANGTOWN, IN ADDITION TO SHARING THE STAGE WITH ARTISTS SUCH AS: LAKE STREET DIVE, BILLY STRINGS, GRACE POTTER, YONDER MOUNTAIN STRING BAND, THE INFAMOUS STRINGDUSTERS, AND THE TRAVELIN’ MCCOURYS.

Anna Tivel is an American singer-songwriter from Portland, Oregon. She has released four studio albums on Portland-based Fluff & Gravy Records. Her 2017 album Small Believer received positive reviews and was named a "Top 10 underheard album of 2017" by Ann Powers of NPR. In 2019, NPR called her album The Question "one of the most ambitious folk records of 2019"; it was also listed by Paste as one of "10 essential folk albums from 2019".

Tivel was born in La Conner, Washington and grew up in a musical family, learning violin and fiddle as a child. After moving to Portland at age 18, she developed an interest in songwriting and began to write and perform her own material. Many of her songs are vignettes about the lives and struggles of ordinary people; she said in an interview "I'm drawn over and over to the small stories of people (myself included) just trying to get by, to do a little better, to feel some sort of beauty in an ugly world." Tivel's songs are often somber in tone as she has said that she "just [doesn't] trust happy songs as much".

Rolling Stone listed her as a standout performer at the 2019 AmericanaFest in Nashville, writing "In a week of countless songsmiths showcasing their attempt at that exact type of singer-songwriter storytelling, Tivel's winding, largely chorus-less tales shined and shimmered." The magazine also named the lead single from The Question, "Fenceline", a "song you need to know".[13]

On her last album, The Question, she collaborated with engineer Brian Joseph and producer and musician Shane Leonard.

The Sweet Lillies’ high-energy, melodic tunes have quickly captured the hearts of fans in Colorado and beyond. The band credits its appeal to the original and compelling songwriting of three people who share an unwavering commitment to life on the road. The magnetic combination of Julie Gussaroff on the upright bass, Becca Bisque on the viola, and Dustin Rohleder on guitar gives the band a rare and alluring sound. Based out of Colorado’s Front Range, The Sweet Lillies are continually expanding their audience and reach with a contagious love of music and a get-up-and-dance attitude that spreads lots of love and smiles.

It’s no secret that great art comes from the margins. From those who are either pushed to create from inner forces, or who create to show they deserve to be recognized. Los Angeles-based street singer, guitarist, and roots music revolutionary Sunny War has always been an outsider, always felt the drive to define her place in the world through music and songwriting. Her restless spirit, a byproduct of growing up semi-nomadic with a single mother, led her to Venice Beach, California, where she’s been grinding the pavement for some years now, making a name for her prodigious guitar work and incisive songwriting, which touches on everything from police violence to alcoholism to love found and lost.

Brad Parsons is singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist from Astoria, OR. His career collaborators include John Craigie, Bart Budwig, Horse Feathers, Cabinet Fruition and TK and The Holy Know Nothings. In 2017 he released his debut album "Hold True" followed by an EP "The Starbird Sessions" in 2020. Parsons has toured nationally and been a mainstay at festivals such as Northwest String Summit and Sawtooth Valley Gathering

BIO: After spending the last decade in the Pacific Northwest, Mimi Naja has made her way from Portland, OR to her new Nashville home. Raised in the outskirts of Atlanta, the urban south beckoned her spirit when touring paused.

As a founding member of roots-rock sweethearts Fruition, Mimi began her professional music career as one of three friends busking on the streets of Portland in 2008. As buzz grew around Fruition’s alluring three-part harmonies and community-bonding dance floor, they took their show to stages around the country. Still, the band continued to busk in between shows, and eventually met their manager on the streets of Austin during SXSW in 2013. Fast forward to early 2020, and the band had developed into a national headline act including an album release show at Denver’s Mission Ballroom, and became ongoing festival favorites at Northwest String Summit, High Sierra Music Festival, and WinterWonderGrass; with highlight appearances at Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Bonnaroo, LOCK’N and more.

Much like her aversion to being pigeon-holed to one genre, Mimi applies the same philosophy when it comes to her instruments of choice. In Fruition, (where she is one of 3 lead vocalists), Mimi is known as a mandolinist and guitar player, but while grounded at home from the pandemic, she took advantage of the opportunity to practice for hours on piano, bass, drums, and even turntables. Growing up on all things radio pop and Southern rap, she ironically found her love of bluegrass upon moving out west, and remains forever inspired by the soul sounds of Motown and Stax. With her raw and direct voice – that’s been likened to Bonnie Raitt- she’s just as likely to croon a slow acoustic ballad as a frenetic rock and roll heater.

When Covid-19 radically altered life around the globe, Mimi found another silver lining by entering a substance treatment program. She continues to take life one day at a time and has remained in recovery since April 2020. Her latest solo endeavor, an EP entitled Nothing Has Changed, shares her latest chapter. Oliver Wood of The Wood Brothers says “Mimi’s record sounds so original and refreshing to me…I’m truly inspired.” The opening track, “All You Know Of Me” touches on the pre-recovery period, where the party never ends, and you are never alone. On the track, she harmonizes with herself; evoking the feeling of being surrounded but actually feeling quite alone. An awakening is found in the upbeat “Coin In My Pocket”, a song about renewal, alluding to the token chip of the Alcoholics Anonymous program being a tangible symbol of progress and life’s new season. “No Captain” talks of navigating new territory and the dark history that lingers behind the lifeboat. The final tracks, “Nothing Has Changed” and its reprise are symbolic of the meditative nature of entering this newfound chapter of self-improvement , and the venting of frustrations of shedding old skin for the sake of growth. The EP is honest and revealing, and while the title may seem pessimistic, a deep dive into the layers unveils a call for reinvention. After taking an early listen to the new release, fellow songwriter Anna Tivel said “If honesty had a voice, it would be Mimi’s. She has this way of lighting up the vulnerable depth, a gritty spotlight on a hard won stage where she invites us to see our shared struggles made beautiful. These songs are human, full of questioning and compassion.”

Music magnifies the human condition, highlighting both daily struggles and personal triumphs with the same sensitivity and sympathy. Portland-based singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Jay Cobb Anderson accepts the responsibility of such sonic discourse via his solo output. Moreover, he deciphers these universal experiences in the form of hummable, hypnotic, and heartfelt anthems steeped in storytelling folk tradition and amplified by unabashed rock ‘n’ roll energy.

His seven-song 2019 EP immediately strikes an emotional chord.

“I’ve always felt like I had a duty to be a voice for the average person—and mostly for their frustrations, loneliness, and struggles,” he affirms. “The plight of the human condition is very confusing at times. We live in the age of information, and we’re still so much like animals. I feel like a great voice for that. I’m like a pendulum swinging hard from intellect and sensitivity to complete primal instincts and animal passion.”

He developed a knack for such writing via his downright prolific career thus far. Not only did he co-found bluegrass folk phenomenon Fruition, but he also launched groups such as The Bell Boys and Rose City Thorns. His growing catalog includes 10 albums and multiple EPs, while he’s logged thousands of gigs since launching his career in 2007. He served up his first solo offering, I’m a Rambler, I’m a Fool, during 2012. Constantly writing, he challenged himself to crank out song per day beginning on his birthday October 12, 2018.

In the midst of this creative whirlwind, he carved out time to hit the studio alongside Fruition drummer Tyler Thompson once again behind the board as producer. It proved to be just the right moment for his sophomore solo album as they retreated to Thompson’s studio.

“Fruition has been touring nationally really hard for the past seven years,” he explains. “It was a challenge to find time in between. Along the way, I never stopped making my own music. So, I picked some of the material from the 100 songs that was more personal and specific to me and started recording them for eventual EPs. This is an outlet to fully get my vision out there and be completely me.”

Spanning seven years between solo releases, he widened his palette of inspiration. Musically, he developed a deep appreciation for indie-rock band and prolific songwriters, Bahamas and maintained his longstanding Tom Waits fascination. At the same time, “books had been a big part of the last few years” as he devoured classics from Charles Bukowski and Kurt Vonnegut. Drawing on the talents of his Fruition family, Thompson handled drums in addition to production, and Jeff Leonard contributed bass as Anderson handled vocals, guitar, piano, mellotron and “everything else.”

The subject matter reflected marked growth.

“I’ve been through a lot of changes,” he goes on. “I put out my last solo record when I was 27. It’s still in the same vein as the original solo album where the lyrics were super important. The vibe is just different. You could say I’m older and maybe a little wiser,” he laughs.

The title track on the EP “Everything Is Gonna Work Its Own Self Out” illuminates his evolution in under two minutes. A stop-and-start beats gallops in tandem with high-energy guitars as his soulful wail carries an upbeat and undeniable refrain punctuated by a punchy bounce.

“It discusses hardship in society and trying to work through everything as it also touches on repression,” he says. “That was all on my mind at the time. As an artist, it’s hard to do this and survive. You go through all of these processes in your head, wondering what you’re doing on the road and if you’d be happier with a nine-to-five and paid vacation. In exploring those frustrations, you swallow your emotions and gain the faith to keep going.”

Elsewhere, the stripped down live performance of “So Far From You” details “a relationship that ended” by way of unfiltered lyricism and stark emotion. “Leave Me” nods to Bahamas, and “Little Glowing Screen” takes on our smartphone addiction complete with “weird phone sounds” to enhance the atmosphere. Then, there’s the sweaty and sticky closing rocker “Baby I’m Yours,” which gets down and dirty replete with a shredding solo.

In the end, Anderson positions himself as a relatable and real voice for the modern age.

“Hopefully, you can connect to it, and maybe it helps you through whatever shit you’re going through,” he leaves off. “Maybe you forget about what’s driving you crazy and you’re able to have a good time and let it all out, if only for a moment.”

You can catch Anderson on the road solo, or with his other nationally touring bands Fruition and TK & The Holy Know-Nothings.

Willy Tea Taylor is a father, brother, and son. His remarkable ability to sing about profound subjects in a simple way makes his songs a great place to lose yourself. Much of that comes from his upbringing.

Willy grew up surrounded by rolling hills and horses in the small town of Oakdale, California. Known as the “Cowboy Capital of the World” for breeding so many world champion rodeo cowboys, Oakdale is still Willy’s home and the setting for many of his songs.

Despite coming from a long line of cattlemen – his grandfather Walt was one of the most respected of his generation – Willy’s first love was baseball. As a catcher, he had a gift for the nuances of calling a game from behind the plate. When a knee injury ended his ability to catch, Willy turned his attention to music.

At the age of 18, a discerning and intimate set by Greg Brown at the Strawberry Music Festival inspired Willy to pursue life as a folk singer. Strawberry would play an integral role in Willy’s development as a musician, going from spectator to stagehand, to performer. He made his main stage debut with his band the Good Luck Thrift Store Outfit at the 2009 festival. In 2015, Willy made his solo debut on the main stage. Willy has charmed fans at some of the best festivals in the country.

Willy calls John Hartford, Roscoe Holcomb, Bob Dylan, KISS, Weird Al Yankovic and Willie Nelson his biggest influences, but is always quick to advocate for his favorite contemporary songwriters which include Tom VandenAvond, Nathan Moore, and his Good Luck partner in crime, Chris Doud. He and VandenAvond have travelled the country together on a series of tours they call “Searchin’ for Guy Clark’s Kitchen” where each evening’s show is just a precursor to an endless quest for the kind of serene late night scene depicted in the cult classic documentary Heartworn Highways.

On his new release Knuckleball Prime, Willy received support from greats like Benmont Tench (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers), Greg Leisz (Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton), and Gabe Witcher and Noam Pikelny of the Punch Brothers. Of the album’s title, Taylor says “most baseball players peak in their twenties, but knuckleball pitchers tend to blossom in their late thirties and early forties. I’m staring down my knuckleball prime.”

Led by producer Michael Witcher, the songs on Knuckleball Prime are arranged and accompanied magnificently by a first rate team of musicians and engineers. If you’re a fan of well-written lyrics, alluring melodies, and a voice that ties them together with emotion as deep as the artist’s own roots, you’ll savor Knuckleball Prime, and just about anything else Willy Tea Taylor has ever done.

Anna Moss is a multi-instrumentalist and one half of the band Handmade Moments. With roots in the mountains of Arkansas and the city of New Orleans, Anna’s music is an amalgam of beatnik porch jazz bathing in Southern roots, R&B, folk, and more.

Portland, Oregon-based singer-songwriter Cassandra Lewis played her first real show in a retirement home. As a child, she grew up loving music and “dissecting” the voices of other singers she listened to. By five years old, she hosted little concerts in her basement, singing to a little karaoke machine her grandparents had bought her. She sang to instrumental tapes of Patsy Cline’s music, 1950’s crooners, and ‘90s pop-country. Then came her first break: the retirement center where her great-grandmother had lived in Lincoln Court in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

“It brought me so much joy to spend time with the elders and hear their stories,” Lewis tells American Songwriter. “From then on I spent all of my times focused on my music and getting away from the vortex of poverty and pain we had been enduring.”

“Before Evan + Zane performed their revolution soundtrack, opener Cassandra Lewis rewarded an even tinier audience of early arrivals with a voice that can best be described as absolutely fucking incredible. Performing a selection of her own songs, Lewis culminated her set with a powerhouse medley that morphed from Chris Isaak’s“Wicked Game” into Pink Floyd’s “Breathe” with some interludes of the latter’s “The Great Gig in the Sky” as well.

As anyone who’s ever heard the song can attest, “The Great Gig in the Sky is not something you cover unless you’re damn sure you can nail it. Lewis was more than qualified, and throughout her performance – which also featured a few saxophone cameos but was otherwise just her alone on stage – one could physically see the rapture and fury of the music manifest on her face as she stretched octaves and belted choruses.”

When Boise three-piece Blood Lemon — singer/guitarist Lisa Simpson (Finn Riggins, Treefort Music Fest), singer/bassist Melanie Radford (Built to Spill, Marshall Poole) and percussionist Lindsey Lloyd (Tambalka) — formed, in 2018, out of a medley of mutual admiration, a cover band called Mostly Muff and a unanimous love of Kim Deal and 90s Riot Grrrl music, they had no idea they’d be writing a perfect soundtrack to kick off 2021. What they did know was that they were eager to play music with their fellow women; they wanted a sound informed by 90s stalwarts like Pixies, Hole and The Breeders; and they were ready to get political.

The resulting record, Blood Lemon’s self-titled debut, is a flinty 40-minute affair that tackles subjects like the inner journey of one song’s narrator toward becoming a whistleblower (“Whistleblower”) and running a toxic person out of town (“Burned”) with equal clarity and musical chops. Throughout, environmental (in)action is a theme that recurs. “Leave the Gaslight On” was inspired by Greta Thunberg’s speech at the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit and the political and economic realities (i.e. capitalism) that have led America not to take it seriously. “Black-Capped Cry” — a deft, heavy track that includes a bass riff inspired by the call of the black-capped chickadee — skewers both the lifestyle of limitless consumption and white colonialism. That tightness of focus in songwriting is well matched by production from Z.V. House of Boise’s Rabbitbrush Audio, a collaborator whose understanding of genre and ear for sonic layering burnished the band’s post-Riot Grrrl sound.

All three of Blood Lemon’s members are classically trained musicians, with decades of experience between them — so yeah, they’ve been around a while. As they live and work within Boise’s scene, which is re-energizing while also responding to the lessons of #MeToo, they take pride in the representation they embody. “It’s important that music not only be about The Youth,” Simpson says. Radford talks glowingly of first seeing The Breeders live, “not caring about anything onstage other than having fun — not being cute, not showmanship, nothin’.”

Listening to the record, it’s clear the ladies of Blood Lemon have brought that same ethos to writing and recording their debut. Their emphasis on reveling in each others’ company while bringing A-level musicianship is the perfect counterweight to the record’s headier themes. They seriously shred through tracks like “Master Manipulator” — which the band mapped on a whiteboard while recording to make sure they didn’t forget any of the collection of Mel’s riffs the song is constructed from — without ever sinking into self-seriousness. If you, too, find yourself ready to get political, you couldn’t ask for a more apt soundtrack than Blood Lemon’s cathartic good time.

Free Peoples began as a band in an Oakland, California studio in 1999. It was there that singer/guitarist Tim Sawyer and bassist/singer Michael DiPirro met. They immediately connected on a deep musical level and began composing songs. Soon after, guitarist/vocalist Johnny Downer joined. The trio began working on their self-titled album that would be released in 2001. A year or so later drums were added to the ensemble to accommodate larger venues. The band recorded two more studio albums between 2002-2005 and two live albums between 2007- present.

The band has fluctuated with different line-ups throughout the last 15 years. Some of the players who have contributed to the ever-evolving sound have been Bradley Leach, James Foster and Ricardo Lomeli on drums; Mark Calderon on bass; and Jesse Shantor and Nick Hasty on saxophones.

The current line-up features long time member Jason Thor on trombone/vocals, Sam Hamby on guitar/vocals and Dylan Garrison on drums.

s a Seattle based Sound and Movement Artist whose curiosity and attraction to movement has lead to both wild and tame adventures in performance and film. Sides moved from Ketchum, Idaho to attend Cornish College of the Arts and graduated with a BFA in Dance in 2010. Since then she has had the pleasure to dance with SaltHorse (Seattle), tEEth (Portland), Lingo (Seattle) and is a member of The New Animals (Seattle). She is constantly looking for new ways to bring dance to an assortment of audiences thus created .Trigger. New Dance Happenings. Performance quarterly at Vermillion Art Gallery and Bar in Seattle, WA.

Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz is a six-string slinger and singer known for his one of a kind versatility, deft songcraft, and irresistible charm. Possessing a signature tone, the vehicle for his fluid, buttery sound is an acoustic guitar that he has personally sliced and diced into an electrified flat top, with a vintage style humbucker pickup. Inherently committed to an improvisational approach, Lebo embodies the realm of melodic, soulful sounds.

Performing since his early teens in Saratoga, CA, Lebo’s path has been one of constant exploration, both sonically and conceptually. While obtaining a degree in Ethnomusicology at The University of California, Santa Barbara, he co-founded ALO (Animal Liberation Orchestra) with childhood friends Zach Gill and Steve Adams. The band was groomed in their early years by James Brown, and have since recorded nine albums (the last 6 have been released on Jack Johnson’s record label, Brushfire Records/Universal Republic). ALO tours the world, playing prestigious amphitheaters and regularly headlining multi-night runs, at venues such as San Francisco's legendary Fillmore Auditorium.

In addition to ALO, Lebo leads his own band, Lebo & Friends, featuring a rotating cast of musical legends and rising stars. Lebo has become an in demand musical director and featured guest at events around the globe, instantly elevating all lineups he joins. Dan "Lebo" Lebowitz is synonymous with the art of collaboration, and appears simultaneously in more high profile projects than many musicians do in a lifetime.

In recent years, he has been embraced by the Grateful Dead family, memorably collaborating with the surviving members on separate occasions. During a Bay Area concert with Bob Weir, highly respected scribe, Blair Jackson, offered the lofty praise: "I was really impressed by Lebo's guitar work which sounded like a combination of (Jerry) Garcia and George Benson, but was completely original." He regularly performs with Phil Lesh & Friends at Terrapin Crossroads and has also joined Lesh at the legendary Capitol Theater in NY.

When Lebo is not on tour, or adventuring around San Francisco with his wife, daughter, and Siberian Forest Cat, Merlin Moon, he spends his time at his studio Leboland. Equal parts recording studio and sonic exploration laboratory, it is here where Lebo can be found composing, recording, producing, and experimenting with sound.

No matter what, where, how or who, music is Lebo's equivalent to breathing air or drinking water.