Artist Category: Americana | Page 21

Dennis Brennan

Dennis Brennan was born on the wrong side of the tracks in Marlboro, Massachusetts.

At age 9 he entered show business as Rumplestiltsken in a grammar school play. In 7th grade he performed “Louie Louie” with a local garage band at the Berlin, Ma. Town Hall and quickly evolved into “the lead singer”

That band evolved into “The Paranoids”, his musical outlet throughout his high school years. They opened shows for both The Remains and The Barbarians, garage band legends who are each featured on “Nuggets, original artyfacts from the first psychedelic era” Rhino R2 75486.

Following high school. Brennan’s education continued as lead singer in such well regarded outfits as “The Dirty Rye Band”, The West Side Band”, “The Martells”, and “Push Push”. These bands performed in every bar and dive on the east coast. An education indeed.

In 1992 he formed the Dennis Brennan Band and started his solo career, quickly releasing two critically acclaimed recordings on Upstart Records, a division of Rounder. In 2000 he released “Rule #1” on ESCA Records which resulted in glowing reviews from The New Yorker, The Chicago Sun Times, The Boston Phoenix as well as other publications nationwide. These recordings showcase Brennans ability “to not just tip toes into genres, he strips naked and plunges right in.” Bill Holmes, AMPLIFIER.

David Robert King

While trading songs at a songwriter gathering in Nashville, TN, Idaho native and high school teacher David Robert King’s boneyard truth telling, worn and vulnerable voice, and magnetic melodies were overheard by legendary singer/songwriter Mary Gauthier who told King “I have a feeling we will get together someday.” This speculation led to King and Gauthier gracing stages throughout North America. David has also shared the stage with Josh Ritter, The Mark O’Connor Band, Tim O’Brien, Loudon Wainwright III, Darrell Scott, and Over The Rhine, and has collaborated with Emily Saliers of The Indigo Girls and Jonatha Brooke.

King’s dark, sometimes humorous songs, are unapologetically personal while grounded in the arid soil of his native Idaho. His songs reverberate with the sting of the high desert wind and the hidden power of the Snake River. This combination led to a top 40 song on folk and roots radio, wide critical acclaim, and featured spots at the legendary Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, TN, The Targhee Bluegrass Festival, Kerrville Folk Festival, and Strawberry Music Festival. He is currently recording a new album with producer Darryl Neudorf (Neko Case, Sarah McLachlan, Blue Rodeo) due out in early 2018.

Sam Gleaves

Appalachian singer – multi-instrumentalist – songwriter

Born and raised in Wythe County in southwest Virginia, Sam Gleaves performs innovative mountain music with a sense of history. Under the direction of local teacher and barber Jim Lloyd, Sam took up stringband instruments as a teenager, including the banjo, guitar, fiddle, autoharp and dulcimer. With his mentor ballad singer Sheila Kay Adams, Sam found his voice and fell in love with the mountain love songs, which he carries into his generation with pride. Sam’s performances combine traditional Appalachian ballads, dance tunes, original songs and the stories that surround the music.

Sam writes new songs in the Appalachian tradition, telling stories about love, the home place, working people and present social issues in the mountains. Appalachian author Lee Smith has deemed Sam as “courageous as hell and country to the bone . . . the best young songwriter around.” Sam’s music has been featured by National Public Radio, Kentucky Educational Television, West Virginia Public Radio, Appalshop’s WMMT FM, KEXP, Exclaim!, The Windy City Times, Sing Out!, The Bitter Southerner, and Still Journal. AIN’T WE BROTHERS, Sam’s debut record of original songs, is produced by Cathy Fink and was released November, 2015.

Mike Witcher

Growing up the youngest of 5 in a musical and artistic family in the suburbs of Los Angeles, Michael found his voice playing the Dobro at the age of 14. In less than a year, he was playing with his dad’s, Dennis and brother, Gabe’s band The Witcher Brothers. Michael started teaching and doing session work when he was 16. Since then he has recorded/toured with Dwight Yoakam, Fernando Ortega, Peter Rowan, Laurie Lewis, Tyler Hilton, Missy Raines and The New Hip, John Paul Jones, Sara Watkins, The Gibson Brothers, Dolly Parton, Joan Osborn, Willie Watson, Chris Jones and others. Michael is currently a member of The Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band. Known not only for his rich tone and lyrical phrasing, Michael is also a highly sought after instructor. At age 19 he published his first instructional book, Resonator Guitar: Tunes Techniques and Practice Skills. Since then he has published a second book Resonator Guitar: 20 Bluegrass Jam Favorites and can be found teaching at the top acoustic music camps around the world.

Jordan Tice

Jordan Tice is a musical seeker of the most dedicated sort. Listening to the breadth of his discography, which includes 7 projects as a solo artist and 6 as a founding member of the string band, Hawktail, one will hear this dedication at play. Equally virtuosic as a flatpicker and fingerstylist, and with a casual vocal style, Tice conjures ingredients from far-flung worlds with ease which has earned him glowing press from such outlets as NPR and American Songwriter and taken him to stages such as the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and the Ryman Auditorium.

His performances call upon the repertories of American and British Isles folk, bluegrass, blues and pop-oriented songs, and though his earlier releases are instrumental in focus, he has been carefully honing his craft as a singer-songwriter in his most recent work. This includes his Motivational Speakeasy (produced by Kenneth Pattengale of The Milk Carton Kids) and Badlettsville projects which make it easy to confuse his originals for timeworn chestnuts. Having filled the roles of guitar ace, sideman (w/ Aoife O’Donovan, Andrew Marlin of Watchhouse and David Rawlings), songwriter and student of American music for the better part of his life, Jordan’s songs are enriching for all manner of listeners, from guitar fanatics to more casual fans of Americana music. He delivers performances that are not weighted by any one area of his prowess, allowing listeners to join his world of candor, wit and ineffable facility with comfort.

Sean Staples

The Whiskey Treaty Roadshow

The Whiskey Treaty Roadshow is a collaborative band that brings together 5 Massachusetts singer-songwriters in the vein of Americana, rock, and roots-folk music. The Roadshow is Greg Smith, David Tanklefsky, Billy Keane, Chris Merenda, and Tory Hanna.

Dan Mills

Singer/Songwriter Dan Mills fronts a 5 piece Folk/Americana band that’s based between Brooklyn NY and Cambridge MA. Mills portrayed country-guitar legend Carl Perkins in the Broadway cast of Million Dollar Quartet, and his song “Best I Could” earned him a nomination for Sirius XM Coffeehouse’s “Singer/Songwriter Discovery of the Year”.

Currently celebrating the release of his new full length album Something Good (7/7/17), Mills has combined his knack for writing honest, lyrically driven folks songs with the raw Sun Records twang that has seeped into his artistic voice. Sincere and bittersweet, Something Good is a love letter to cheap wine and deep love, dive bars and indecision, quiet train rides, and the unwavering hope of a hungry artist.

Lenny Solomon

Lenny Solomon is one of Cambridge’s best kept secrets. A songwriter/singer, he’s been performing for over 40 years writing hundreds of songs in styles ranging from folk, to country, to blues. Since 2002 he has released four CDs and has won over a dozen songwriting awards. He will now grace the stage at Passim.

Lenny Solomon’s style has been compared to John Prine, Guy Clark, and Jerry Jeff Walker. Solomon began his career in the late 1960s and was the second act booked when the Club 47 reopened as Club Passim. He aslo headlined Passim’s first New Years eve show. A fixture at the long defunct Idler Coffeehouse in Harvard Square, he regularly performed there on Friday nights for over eight years. The Idler was a training ground for such music luminaries as Geoff Bartley, Paul Rishell, Spider John Koerner, and Ric Ocasek. During these years he shared bills with many name performers including Chris Smither, Carolyn Hester, Bonnie Raitt, and Spider John.

From the 1980s through the mid-1990s, Solomon continued to write songs, but rarely performed, instead choosing to raise his family and work in environmental research at Harvard University. From 1978 though 2009 he managed a research program that investigated ozone depletion in the stratosphere and more general aspects of climate change.

In 1997 Solomon began performing again and formed a folk/country band. Performing his original material, Solomon has released four CDs, Not Life Threatening, Armando’s Pie, Maybe Today, and Under My Hat. Songs from these albums have been aired on over 150 radio stations around the country and around the world.

Sarah Blacker & the Light

Named ‘Performer of the Year’ in the 2024 New England Music Awards, Sarah Blacker captures hearts and minds each time she sings. Called “her own artist” by the Huffington Post with music coined as “soaring folk gospel” by the Patriot Ledger, Blacker has truly stepped into her power as a singer/songwriter, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and force to be reckoned with.

Based in the historical coastal witch city of Salem, MA, it’s no surprise that each note she sings comes infused with a touch of magic. Inspired by nature, connection and the human experience, Blacker’s hope is that listeners find themselves in the lyrics or her thoughtfully crafted original songs.

When it comes to releasing new music, 2024 has been fruitful for Sarah Blacker (and her band) the Light.’Live at Rockport Sundays’ released 8/23/24, features Blacker and her trio performing three of their most popular singles and was recorded live at the legendary Tom Rush’s studio in Kittery, Maine.

‘Horizon Line,’ Blacker’s newest studio EP is raw, stripped down and vulnerable, just the way she wanted it to be. Recorded (mostly) live and mixed at Boston Music Award winning producer, Sean McLaughlin’s 37’ Productions studios, and called “tender, defiant and genius” by the Boston Herald, it was performed and co-produced by Blacker and her husband, Aaron Z. Katz (Percy Hill, the Dejas). Featuring 3 songs about inner strength, the limitless parameters of time, being true to yourself, and the chaotic state of the world, ‘Horizon Line’ is Blacker’s most soulful and raw release, to date.

Blacker, LMHC, MT-BC is also a Psychotherapist and a Board-Certified Music Therapist, and isn’t shy to explore the soulful depths of human existence within her lyrics, providing honesty, a touch of sarcasm and always much hope in her songs and at a live show, when telling stories and jokes.

While she is regularly compared to Joni Mitchell with her stop-you-dead-in-your-tracks vocals and unique harmonic twists, she arrives with a side of Classic rock n’roll and jazz. Blacker was raised on Pink Floyd, CSNY, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Phil Collins and the songwriters of the ‘90s including Sarah McLachlan and Tracy Chapman, and then went on to study jazz vocals in high school and at the Berklee College of Music in Boston where she graduated with a degree in Music Therapy.

As a solo artist, Blacker has toured nationally and internationally playing sold out shows around Germany and the United States with favorite stops being Philadelphia, Central PA, Portsmouth, NH, Cambridge, MA and Asheville, NC.

Her band, featuring Aaron Z. Katz of Percy Hill on drums/percussion and harmonies, and Phil Selesnick on keys/bass and vocals, singer/songwriters Mark Lipman and Danielle Lovasco on backing vocals allows for familiar songs to find their way from compelling soulful pop shape into jazzy improvisation, and transport the listener from inner peace to gut-punch grooves.

Twice named ‘(Female) Performer of the Year’ in the New England Music Awards, a Boston-Music Award nominee and CBS Boston ‘Artist to Watch, Blacker has also supported Sara Bareilles, Jefferson Starship, America, Paula Cole, Richard Thompson, Leon Russell, Loudon Wainright and Suzanne Vega to name just a few.