The Social No.11 delivers its own brand of New England Americana with a country twang and a bluesy heart. They’re known for haunting lyrics, sweet harmonies, and showing up with a boat-load of instruments.
Here’s what 24-Hour Music producer Tom Bianchi had to say after he heard them play at an open mic at Lizard Lounge in Cambridge and booked them at two legendary Boston-area venues—The Burren in Davis Square, and Toad in Porter Square:
“Like an old timey freight train of fun The Social No.11 is an unstoppable good time. With more than a 1/2 dozen cars in the form of guitars, accordion, mandolin, banjo, percussion and more, Social No.11 barrels down the tracks with their own original material that sounds like songs you’ve loved forever as well as songs you do know and love.”
The band formed around Sunday night jam sessions in Arlington, Massachusetts. As the music got tighter, the harmony sweeter, and original material started finding its way onto set lists, it was time to settle on a name. The original Social No. 11 is a cast-iron wood stove, manufactured by the S.M. Howes Company of Boston in the 19th century. There’s one in the backyard shack (can you say shazeebo?) where the band gathers on winter nights after practice. That stove is warm, comforting, reliable, and a thing of beauty, even after all these years.
Delivering a powerhouse performance of emotive and virtuosic original songs and compositions, Taarka creates “adventurous Americana” with a enchanting and nuanced sound that is influenced by bluegrass, gypsy-jazz, American and world folk. Taarka delivers energy, emotion, and “gravity-defying” performances beautifully interweaving song and captivating instrumental prowess. With 8 CD releases, a nationally released film soundtrack, 16 years touring the US and the world, Taarka weds soul with mastery for an unforgettable experience.
Rose Polenzani was born in the midwest to a musical family, learning harmony at her parents’ knee, hiding out under the family piano; she was always surrounded by music.
She began writing songs in college, and left school to start her life as a singer-songwriter. She was discovered by Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls, signed to Ray’s Daemon Records for two releases, and spent a decade touring the US, supporting such acts as the Indigo Girls, Over the Rhine, Joan Baez, David Gray, and Freedy Johnston. Though she started as a solo act, collaboration has become the driving force behind her songwriting, as evidenced by her recent work in Wintery Songs in Eleventy Part Harmony, the Sub Rosa collective, and her lush, live-in-studio recordings “The Rabbit” (2011) and “When the River Meets the Sea” (2006).
Jesse Bardwell is a musician born and raised in northwest New Jersey, but currently lives in close proximity to the beautiful Delaware Water Gap in Northeastern Pennsylvania. With an innate calling to music, he started his musical career early on; Quimby Mountain Band formed in 2005 when he was 17 years old. Over the years garnering regional acclaim and touring from the Atlantic to the mighty Mississippi QMB has raised a ruckus in Delta jukejoints, theatres, bars, dives, concert halls, and all the likes in between. Opening for acts such as Railroad Earth, Keller Williams, Marshall Tucker Band, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Foghat and many others.
Celebrate the release of the Stash Band’s 3rd album, “Chapter 3”!
Referred to by the Boston Herald as a “Sonic Kaleidoscopic of Weirdness and Wonder” the STASH band is bluegrass meeting heavy metal meeting outer space music. Fronted by Stash Wyslouch they play original music on fiddle, guitar, bass and drums combining the song-writing of snarky rock bands of the days of yore and fresh psychedelic bluegrass-metal riffs churned out at lightning speed. Prepare to laugh, cry, jam and mosh.
Called everything from ‘hillbilly-Pink Floyd’ to ‘folk-pop’ to ‘surreal Americana’, New York’s Slambovian Circus of Dreams “is a riveting, mesmerizing, crazy, amazing machine of music.” – Chronogram Magazine.
A rootsy psychedelica that Maverick Magazine calls “Mightily impressive and hugely original rock from the cool end of Americana,” their melodic avant-folk conjures with an exotic instrumental arsenal and palette of styles ranging from dusty Americana ballads to huge Pink Floydesque cinematic anthems. The Slambovians charm from the first note with “Great songs and a whole lotta heart!” – DJ Meg Griffin, SiriusXM.
Formed in Sleepy Hollow, New York over a decade ago, they pioneered the alt-folk circuit, staying on the fringes of the music industry. Winning support from indie radio and press since their inception, fans fueled their career from the ground up to an international status. Having headlined major music festivals and venues across the US, Canada and UK, this band has a devoted cult following. “Soothing and bewitching as a snake oil tonic, the entire root system of Rock Family Trees is embedded in Longo’s voice.” – The Big Issue, Scotland, UK. Lead singer-songwriter Joziah Longo is joined by Sharkey McEwen (guitar, mandolin), Tink Lloyd (accordion, cello, etc), Bob Torsello (bass), and Felipe Torres (drums, percussion). They create a captivating vibe that feeds the soul.
The Faux Paws have a problem. They’re a triangle band in a land of circles. Musically impossible to describe, they don’t even fit into todays often hyphenated-genre world. No fan, industry expert, nor member of the band can seem to sum up this band’s sound in any kind of marketable way. They continue to remain a singularly unique outfit in the acoustic music community, always on the fringes, always memorable and with an increasing number of die-hard fans who feel like they’ve uncovered a secret.
Is it bluegrass? Not usually. Old-time? Occasionally. Is it Celtic? Can’t quite say that. Is it Folk? Americana? Jazz? Singer-songwriter? None of the above, but members of the Paws have deep ties to all of these traditions and blend their elements effortlessly to serve whatever musical idea is being presented. So what can we say? This band takes risks. They’re dynamic, exciting, sincere, irreverent, infectious, and surprising. They move deftly between moods, influences and instruments but always maintaining a “groove” that pulses through the music like a heartbeat (you may not always be aware it’s there but it gives the thing life).
A Faux Paws live show is an explosive roller coaster ride that brings the audience along. Virtuosity on the fiddle, mandolin, guitar and saxophone, sure, but also vulnerability, personal lyrics, tight 3-part brother harmonies, playful interplay, intricately arranged details and soaring improvisations. With the considerable success and praise the band has seen since coming out of the pandemic the Paws decided to add long-time friend and collaborator Zoe Guigueno (Fish & Bird, Della Mae) to their touring outfit on upright bass whenever possible. Zoe only deepens the group’s already massive sound while freeing each member up for more creative expression on their various instruments.
Somewhere on the musical map, where the twang of Classic Country meets the grit of Southern Soul, Hank Wonder marks a detour down a sonic stretch of unpaved road. Together since 2013, the Boston-based trio of Annie Bartlett (fiddle and viola), Darren Buck (vocals), and Michael Loria (guitar) continue to craft a soulful blend of Americana that’s equal parts down-home and gussied up. The trio’s debut album, Little Mysteries was produced by Charlie Rose (The Mammals, Elephant Revival, Railroad Earth, Barnstar!) and released in 2017. Two years later, they returned to the studio with Zachariah Hickman (Josh Ritter, Rodney Crowell, Ray LaMontagne, Mark Erelli, Barnstar!) at the helm. Initially stalled by a global pandemic, the 10-track Waylaid was released in 2021.
During their twelve years together, Hank Wonder has performed at Club Passim, The Cabot Theatre, Cary Hall, The Center of the Arts in Natick, Paradise Rock Club, The Burren, Lizard Lounge, Toad, Portsmouth Music Hall Loft, and the perennial Fresh Grass, Falcon Ridge, and Back Porch music festivals. Concert reviewer James Gerke once described Hank Wonder’s live show as “a musical journey that zigzags across geographic and metaphorical locations”, and Boston radio host Perry Persoff wrote that Waylaid’s songs will make you “feel like you are loading up the camper van for a trip.” Songs from both albums have been streamed over 47.5K times, and enjoy regular airplay on independent radio stations across the United States.
Jeffrey Halford, a singer/songwriter and guitarist, was born in Dallas, Texas, growing up listening to Roger Miller on a $2 transistor radio.
Over the last 25 years, Halford has been touring the country with his band, the Healers. They have played shows with some of music’s most acclaimed artists and songwriters, as well as Halford’s influences, such as Taj Mahal, Los Lobos, George Thorogood, Gregg Allman, Etta James, John Hammond, and Texas Greats Augie Meyers, Guy Clark and Robert Earl Keen. His newest CD, Rainmaker, is the follow-up to the critically acclaimed record Broken Chord and is currently at #12 on the Euro-Americana Charts* and climbing. His original roots rock and roll songs etch a uniquely American landscape.
Over the last 40 years, Chuck McDermott has left his musical mark on audiences on both coasts of the United States. After a restless two years at Yale University, Chuck arrived in Boston and formed an influential country group, Chuck McDermott and Wheatstraw, which during the better part of that decade won over audiences and music critics with strong original songwriting and exciting live performances.
Chuck’s two albums with Wheatstraw, Last Straw and Follow the Music, drew critical praise from Rolling Stone, the Village Voice, the New York Times, Billboard, Variety and others and broadened Chuck’s reach beyond the Boston area. The late 70’s found Chuck touring from Montreal to New Orleans, headlining venues like New York’s Lone Star Café and opening for major rock and country acts. In recognition of those years, Chuck was a 2015 inductee into the Massachusetts Country Music Hall of Fame.
Over the last few decades, Chuck has devoted himself to energy and environmental policy issues, working in government, the private sector and finance, watchful for the world his three children are inheriting. Through those years, he never really set down either his pen or his guitar.
Chuck’s attention has now turned back to his music, and he recently released Gin & Rosewater his first record in many years. His current songs show his empathetic eye for his fellow man and a sober – sometimes irreverent, sometimes sardonic – take on the world that dances around him.
