Artist Category: Americana | Page 6

Josh Radnor

In early 2022, exiled from his Los Angeles home and reeling from an intense breakup, actor-writer-director-songwriter Josh Radnor sought refuge in close friends and good music.

He drove to Nashville, Tennessee with his dog, Nelson, and roughly fifty original songs in tow. There, despite the heartache that initially led him South, Radnor found deep peace, immersing himself in what would eventually become his debut solo album, Eulogy: Volume I + II. The process of sifting through the emotional complexities of love, loss, death, identity, grief, and redemption grew into a powerful outlet for healing. It also resulted in twenty-three beautifully minimal, meditative, and stirring folk-Americana tracks—a double-album debut, the first volume of which is set for release on November 17th, 2023 via all streaming platforms.

Eulogy: Volume I is a garden of carefully-chiseled gravestones—a moment of respite in a frantic, overwhelming world. Produced and engineered by Nashville friends Jeremiah Dunlap, Cory Quintard, and Kyle Cox, the album’s dozen original tracks exude the unquestionable sturdiness characteristic of classic Americana—these songs tell you stories, make you stomp, and break your heart. Simple, anthemic melodies are laced with electronic elements and idiosyncratic twists, drawing comparisons to 1960s Laurel Canyon artists as well as modern folk acts like Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros. Each song feels substantial in its own way, intentionally created by a dynamic and introspective artist seeking to understand his own lived experiences. “At some point in the writing process, I realized that each track on this album is, in one way or another, about death,” Radnor says. “If not a literal death, then a metaphorical one. I was using these songs to honor—and then bury—parts of myself that were no longer serving me. The album is a song cycle of mini-funerals.”

Danni Nicholls

Hailing from Bedfordshire, England, growing up on the American roots music of her Anglo-Indian grandmother’s record collection, singer/songwriter Danni Nicholls has been paving her way in UK Americana for over a decade, building a loyal fan base and much critical praise.

With the wind still in her sails from three consecutive Americana Music Association UK award nominations (Album, Artist and Song of the year in 2017, 2018 & 2020 respectively) plus extensive tours and opening slots with the likes of The Secret Sisters, Shakin’ Stevens and Lucinda Williams, Danni, her powerful, arresting voice and her dynamically poetic original songs are ever-gaining presence and reach.

Danni’s latest musical offering, new stand-alone single Little Fictions, was released in April 2022. Self produced and recorded in Nashville and Bedford, UK, the song is a big & bold, cinematic ballad which truly showcases Danni’s powerful vocals. Sweeping strings intertwine with folky guitar and Memphis R & B style drums and the whole thing climbs to an emotional climax.

Written in February 2020 with co-writer Rebekah Powell (Zooey Deschanel, Ward Thomas, Sarah Darling) shortly before the world would be unimaginably changed, Little Fictions was born from a persistent, niggling feeling of doubt. Doubt of the self, of life’s path, of certain relationships. An acknowledgement of the anxiety inducing voices in our heads which try to take us down, to block our potential…the little fictions we tell ourselves that drown out our intuition and make it hard to trust the journey. The song is also an attempt to stand up to them.

As a child, Danni dreamed of travelling to Nashville, her ‘spiritual home’ as she describes it. After a chance meeting of musician and producer Chris Donohue who was in the UK performing with Emmylou Harris at the time, Danni’s dream came true and she was invited to make a record with Chris and the cream of Nashville’s crop in East Nashville which resulted in 2012’s A Little Redemption. The pair went on to make Mockingbird Lane together in 2015. Both albums garnered rave reviews and feature some of Danni’s musical heroes including Al Perkins (Dolly Parton, The Rolling Stones) Will Kimbrough (Emmylou Harris) and Steve Fishell (Albert Lee, Wille Nelson).

April 2019 saw the release of Danni’s third studio album The Melted Morning. Produced by Jordan Brooke Hamlin (The Indigo Girls, Lucy Wainwright-Roche) at the idyllic woodland studio MOXE, Nashville, TN. The record offers a new direction and very different sonic landscape than previous releases. Haunting, intimate and atmospheric, this album was a deeper dive into Danni’s truth and perspective.

Having been invited to perform all over the world at prestigious events and festivals such as Cambridge Folk (UK), Tønder (Denmark) and Americanafest (USA), Danni is no stranger to the big stages which she loves to fill with her strong voice both literally and metaphorically. Writing songs with messages of hope and healing plus citing the likes of Brandi Carlile and KT Tunstall as important personal and musical influences, she is proud to be counted amongst the increasing list of LGBTQIA+ identifying artists and recognises the importance of representation.

With comparisons to artists such as Linda Ronstadt, Brandi Carlile and Roseanne Cash, Danni’s vibrant, captivating performances are all but guaranteed to melt your heart into the soles of your boots. Her passionate delivery, captivating voice, mesmerising guitar skills and charmingly engaging between-song banter compel you to fall under her spell.

Since she picked up her first guitar inherited from great uncle Heathcliffe aged 15 (a 1964 Burns London Jazz guitar rumoured to have once belonged to Billy Fury no less!) Danni Nicholls has been in love with the practice of songwriting, honing her craft, finding and sharing her voice. The connection to other humans she finds through music feels powerful, important and intoxicating which is why, no matter the challenges she may come up against, she’s committed to choosing a life in music over and over again.

Maggie Monroe

Maggie Monroe is a queer Americana artist from North Carolina. By interweaving authentic narratives with catchy melodies, audiences can expect to head home humming along to tales of romance, growing up, and traveling through life’s challenges. A unique blend of country, rock, blues, and bluegrass that makes listeners say, “I don’t usually like country music but…” Monroe is currently Boston based as she studies songwriting, American roots performance, and music production and engineering at Berklee College of Music.

Bandits on the Run

Bandits on the Run is a musical trio comprised of Adrian Enscoe, Sydney Shepherd, and Regina Strayhorn. Formed upon a chance encounter while busking in the subways of New York City, the Brooklyn based outfit has gone on to receive accolades from NPR Music’s All Songs Considered, American Songwriter, NPR Weekend Edition, and the Johnny Mercer Songwriters Project. 2020 found them busy writing and recording their EP “Now Is The Time” with producer Ryan Hadlock (Brandi Carlile, The Lumineers) and producing a short musical film “Band At The End Of The World” commissioned by NYC based Prospect Theater Company. 2022 saw them they have composing music for the Netflix children’s animated series “Storybots”, scoring the movie “The Same Storm”, and touring the globe with appearances at the Cambridge Folk Festival, Floydfest, Milwaukee Summerfest, Americanafest, and the F1 Singapore Grand Prix. Their next release will be their most collaborative yet: a self-produced EP featuring various and sundry bandit friends that explores the tensions of a world that has been broken open but is putting itself back together; it is slated for release mid 2024.

Goldpine

From Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion and the Kansas City Chiefs’ Arrowhead Stadium to listening rooms throughout the United States, husband-wife duo GOLDPINE has been offering their own brand of bold harmony-driven Americana to audiences large and small. WINNER of the 2022 Rocky Mountain Songwriter Contest, their distinctive harmonies are clearly a channel for their sometimes-raucous, sometimes-reminiscent compositions. With an incredible collection of stories about life, love, and purpose, their live performance is a powerful projection of everything Goldpine is about: striking vocals, bold harmony, and introspection into the human experience.

After nearly a decade of honing in on their sound, Goldpine will release their third album, appropriately titled Three, which gives the listener a glimpse into their live energy captured from the road. On their lead single, “Alabama Born”, brazen family harmonies with understated guitars underscore the pain & joys of an Alabama upbringing. Mastered by Dave McNair (Shovels & Rope, Brandi Carlile), this Americana single emphasizes a father’s alcohol addiction and the burial of so many family members. On the minimalist single “Understand”, Kassie's country-retro-soul vocals give way to howling electric guitars and ethereal vocal interludes, as it balances the tenderness and tension of long-term love. Three is about real people and real situations, told through candid and passionate songwriting. Exposing the pains of severed relationships and unearthing the pursuits of love and purpose, Goldpine is cathartic, moody, dissonant and relevant, all intertwined into one.

Big Richard

The world-class musicians in Big Richard initially convened in 2021 for a festival date. The quartet showed up to the one-off like it had been together for years, bursting with jaw-dropping virtuosity; playfully irreverent stage banter; stunning four-part harmony vocal interlace; imaginative arrangements; a refreshingly eclectic repertoire; and a healthy dose of lady rage.

Quickly things for the Colorado-based, neo-acoustic supergroup morphed into something way bigger than a one-and-done appearance. The sellout club shows, and the confirmed festival dates across America drastically changed its members’ lives. Now, Big Richard is poised to penetrate the Americana music world and beyond. To date, the quartet has issued 3 singles, the Live from Telluride album, and it has new music on the way.

Big Richard siphons from traditional bluegrass, oldtime, classical, modern bluegrass, country, and pop. The four-piece band masterfully mash up genres, often using traditional fiddle tune pieces as instrumental flights of fancy between its storyteller original songs. The group also refreshingly reinvents beloved traditional tunes.

The four musicians have previously played together in various configurations, but united to rage fiddle tunes and smash the patriarchy in Big Richard. The band is platinum recording artist Bonnie Sims on mandolin (Bonnie & Taylor Sims, Everybody Loves an Outlaw, Bonnie and the Clydes), multi-genre musician Dr. Joy Adams on cello (Nathaniel Rateliff, Darol Anger, Half Pelican, Bruce Hornsby, Bobby McFerrin, Chick Corea, Ben Folds), Hazel Royer on bass and guitar, and Eve Panning on fiddle (Lonesome Days, TEDx, Barrage, Hollywood Film Score Orchestra).

Resonant Rogues

The Resonant Rogues’ dark Appalachian folk paints a picture of their lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina and on the road. Anchored by the songwriting duo of Sparrow (banjo, accordion) and Keith Josiah Smith (guitar), they are joined by Joe Macheret (fiddle) and June Youngblood (upright bass). Sparrow and Smith have traveled the byways and highways of America and crossed the oceans with instruments in tow. From riding freight trains to building their own homestead, the pair are no strangers to blazing unconventional trails. The Rogues are releasing a new record in 2023 that was recorded with producer Andrija Tokic (Alabama Shakes, Hurray for the Riff Raff, The Deslondes), at once rooted and adventurous, each song tells a story of real experiences, friendships, and challenges.

AJ Lee & Blue Summit

AJ Lee & Blue Summit are an award-winning energetic, charming, and technically jaw-dropping band quickly rising on the national roots music scene. Based in Santa Cruz, California, the group met as teenagers, picking and jamming together as kids at local music festivals and jams until one day, they decided they would be a band. “Our roots go really deep,” explains de facto band leader Lee. “We met when we were young kids… We definitely decided to choose each other as a chosen family band later on in life, but in a lot of ways it was naturally just like that in the beginning.” “It was like one of those late at night things,” she continued. “We were sitting on a trailer at Grass Valley” at the annual Father’s Day Bluegrass Festival held in the Sierra Nevada foothills – “Someone said, ‘All of us right here, we’re a band now.’ We kind of didn’t take it seriously, but we were like, okay, we’ll be a band!”

And thank goodness they became a band. Their first gigs were local, small venues, cafes, restaurants, coffee shops, where they’d play for multiple hours honing their set list and learning shared musical vocabularies. Now, as they criss-cross the country performing hundreds of shows a year to larger and larger audiences, you can sense the intention they had back then – to make music together not for just aspirational reasons, but because it’s fun – and it’s all you want to do as young musicians. Currently made up of Lee on mandolin, fiddler Jan Purat, and guitarists Scott Gates and Sullivan Tuttle, the band carries that youthful, festival-parking-lot energy with them still today, but at the same time there’s a genuine ease and confidence to their music making. This is not the bluegrass of ambitious musicians intent on industry success, this is music made firstly for the joy of making it and primarily made for each other. It’s part of why, as they ready their third studio album, City of Glass – their first label release, out July 19th via Signature Sounds – their product feels mature and fully realized, while deep in the Blue Summit pocket.

Members:
AJ Lee, lead vocals, mandolin
Scott Gates, guitar
Sullivan Tuttle, guitar
Chad Bowen, bass
Jan Purat, fiddle

Steve Roy

Steve Roy is a multi-instrumentalist from Eliot, Maine, who plays upright bass, mandolin, fiddle, guitar, and ukulele. He performs with Oldhat String Band and, as a sideman, has toured internationally with many of the acoustic world’s top acts, including Laurie Lewis and Tom Rozum, John Reischman and Eli West, Molly Tuttle, Joe K. Walsh, Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen, Joy Kills Sorrow, and many others.

Sue Horowitz

Sue Horowitz is an award-winning Folk/Americana and Spiritual music artist. Her latest album- her 5th, “Strings, Wings and Curious Things” debuted at #3 on the FAI radio charts, charted at #2 and #4 for a single “January”, and #4 as artist. She has had several other charting singles on FAI, as well as on the Roots and NACC charts. Sue was a recent national finalist at the 2022 Emerging Artist Grassy Hill Artist Showcase at Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. She was honored to be a featured artist in the DJ Showcase at the 2018 NERFA as well as the 2022 FARM (Folk Alliance Northeast and Midwest). Sue serves as artist-in-residence at synagogues throughout the US, and is the founder of the Jewish Songwriting Cooperative Retreat. Sue considers being a singer songwriter to be “the best job in the world”.

“Her beautifully crafted lyrics and memorable melodies are woven together with perfection.”-Brent Stockton, Vangarde Arts