Artist Category: Bluegrass | Page 8

The Lonely Heartstring Band

Nourished by deep roots in the expansive canon of traditional American music, The Lonely Heartstring Band embodies the modern American condition—an understanding and reverence for the past that informs a push into the future. George Clements (guitar, vocals) Patrick M’Gonigle (fiddle, vocals) Charles Clements (bass, vocals) Matt Witler (mandolin) and Gabe Hirshfeld (banjo) bring together their own musical styles to create a sound greater than the sum of its parts.

Combining soulful instrumental virtuosity with soaring three-part harmonies, their growing repertoire of original songs and compositions showcases not only their considerable talents, but a dedication to meaningful roots-conscious music.

Already they have generated a devoted following of music-lovers across North America, performing and headlining at major music festivals and historic venues from Western Canada to California, from Kentucky to New Hampshire. Whether it’s a festival stage, theatre, or intimate listening room, The Lonely Heartstring Band always delivers a dynamic, diverse, and heartfelt performance. Over the last three years of touring, the band has crafted shows that generate a genuine connection and bring crowds to their feet.

Chatham County Line

Based on looks alone, Chatham County Line conjures a sepia-toned timelessness by huddling around a single microphone on stage, playing traditional string band instrumentation while clad in suits and ties. But for nearly two decades, the Raleigh, NC-based outfit has consistently crafted top-notch, original modern acoustic music that draws upon American roots forefathers like bluegrass inventor Bill Monroe and folk innovator John Hartford while acknowledging its own members’ backgrounds in rock ‘n’ roll band

Characterized by poignant songwriting and inventive arrangements, Chatham County Line’s latest album, Autumn, sees the quartet working comfortably in its sweet spot: Built around songwriter/guitarist Dave Wilson’s clever lines and compelling vignettes, the record is a treasure trove of the wistful balladry and dynamic toe-tappers that’ve become the band hallmarks. John Teer (mandolin/fiddle), Chandler Holt (banjo), and Greg Readling (bass) add stellar three- and four- harmonies for vocal highlights, while their impeccable yet unconventional picking—rooted in bluegrass but informed by a wealth of other influences—impresses without overshadowing Wilson’s rich storytelling.

Miles of Music

Miles of Music Island Camp is a week-long retreat exploring traditional folk music, modern songwriting, and how they work together. The week includes classes, dances, jams, great food and plenty of free time on a gorgeous private island in New Hampshire’s Lake Winnipesaukee. We teach fiddle, banjo, guitar, mandolin, bass, singing, and occasionally other instruments, and we also have instruction for non-instrument-specific musical skills like songwriting, ear training, ensemble playing, and performance. All ages and abilities are welcome.

Our staff and guest artists are a mix of renowned touring professionals, players steeped in regional traditional music styles as well as up-and-coming original musicians. With 120 creative people including instructors, guest artists, kitchen staff, boat pilots and students, we become a vibrant village for one week. There are moments of jamming and dancing in large groups as well as opportunities to steal away for one-on-one song sharing or tunes on the porch.

Andrea Asprelli

Cricket Tell the Weather is the creative project of Andrea Asprelli, award-winning songwriter and fiddler. She is backed by a collective of some of the finest players in New York’s roots music scene. Winners of the 2013 FreshGrass Award in North Adams, MA, Cricket features award-winning songs delivered with honest vocals and thoughtful arrangements with a modern edge.

Growing up a classical musician in Colorado, Asprelli began playing bluegrass after she moved to the east coast, and was shaped by New England’s small but fiery local bluegrass communities. Moving from Northampton, MA to Syracuse, NY to New Haven, CT, she met many bluegrass, folk, and old-time musicians who inspired her along the way before forming Cricket Tell the Weather and setting up shop in Brooklyn, NY. Cricket performs mostly as a quartet, whose collective cast of NYC musicians includes Doug Goldstein and Hilary Hawke on banjo, Dave Speranza and Sam Weber on bass, and Mike Robinson, Jason Borisoff, and Jeff Picker on guitar.

In 2014, Cricket released its independent eponymous debut album of original music, recorded at Signature Sounds studio in Pomfret Center, CT. Bringing with them heart, enthusiasm, humor, and an appreciation of tradition, Cricket’s voice is personal in a way that stretches against categories, and familiar in a way that honors those who have come before.

Ethan Setiawan

Originally from Goshen, Indiana, Ethan Setiawan tried out numerous instruments before finding his way to the mandolin. “I played the cello, and tried out banjo and ukulele as a kid”, he explains, “But I really liked the mandolin, it was small but packed a bigger punch than the ukulele. Anyway, that was the one that stuck”, he laughs. Years later, Setiawan has a command of the instrument far beyond his twenty-five years, and has won both the National Mandolin Championship at Winfield, KS and the Rockygrass Mandolin Championship. On his new album, “Gambit”, Setiawan takes the calculated musical risks of a seasoned player. He moves aptly between stylistic influences, harkening back to the experimental string band music pioneered in the early 80s while presenting entirely original compositions.

Setiawan was one of three children who were all homeschooled by folk-loving parents, so his childhood was untraditional, and full of exploration, but music gave him a social outlet outside of the home. “As a teenager, I loved the idea of going to jams and having this community of people I could hang out with”, he explains. He began driving to Chicago to take lessons with Don Stiernberg, and traveled to California to attend The Mandolin Symposium. After finishing high school, Setiawan attended Berklee College of Music on a full scholarship. “I think I came into Berklee as a very technically oriented musician, but just being exposed to so many different styles and incredible musicians really broadened my musical horizons, and gave me a deeper understanding of artistry and musicality beyond technical proficiency”, he explains.

Since then, his path has wended its way through traditional bluegrass, to Bach partitas, to free jazz. His debut full-length album, “Flux” is made up of original tunes drawing from all these wells. In retrospect, Setiawan can see immense growth in himself since the release of “Flux”. “I can look at most of those tunes and point you back to a Matt Flinner tune or a Bela Fleck tune that I drew inspiration from, but it feels more like a school project to me, something that I set out to do with a specific goal in mind, whereas “Gambit” feels more like my own artistic statement.”

Produced by legendary fiddle player Darol Anger, the project features Anger’s signature chamber music influenced arrangement styles. “What I love about the album is that the sum of it is greater than its parts”, explains Setiawan. “It starts with an introductory meditation, and it moves through a Swedish tune, a real jammy number, some more jazz and new age influenced pieces, as well as the old time and bluegrass elements. It’s not one thing, it’s a whole record”. In working with Anger, Setiawan found that he was able to make the most musical choices for each tune, leaving academic influences aside.

“Gambit” was recorded in Maine at the Great Northern Sound Society, and features an all-star cast of musicians including Darol Anger (fiddle), Tony Trischka (banjo), Sam Leslie (guitar), Brittany Karlson (bass), Ethan Jodziewicz (bass), Louise Bichan (fiddle), Joe K. Walsh (mandolin), Mike Marshall (mandolin), Neil Pearlman (keys), and Matt Arcara (banjo).
In addition to his solo projects, Setiawan is an in-demand side man and band member, and can be seen playing with his band Corner House, Darol Anger, and Tony Trischka among others. One listen through to “Gambit” will explain why Setiawan is in high demand. Throughout the record, his technical proficiency is rivaled only by his restraint, leaving room for the music to thrive.

Julian Pinelli

Recently named the winner of the 2016 Fresh Grass fiddle competition, Julian Pinelli is a free-spirited violinist who spins a deep tone in his music. Rooted in the bluegrass of his home in Southern Appalachia, Julian taps into a new dimension combining diverse musical influences with the intricacies of acoustic sound.

Julian spent his childhood surrounded by many iconic acoustic musicians including fiddler Bobby Hicks – whose smooth and lush sound has had a big impact on Julian’s playing. Now residing in Boston and attending Berklee College of Music, Julian has been honored with both the 2016 Fletcher Bright Award and Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival’s 2015 Bill Vernon Memorial Scholarship.

Julian unites his passion for improvising with the earthy resonance of acoustic music. “I have always been drawn to the simple and pure tone of acoustic instruments and their inherent expressiveness.” Both adventurous and traditional, Julian creates music that respects traditions such old time and bluegrass while staying fresh at the cutting edge of musical innovation.

Tim Rowell

Tim Rowell teaches music in the greater Boston area. Clawhammer banjo is his specialty. His goal is always to to discover the students individual learning style. In addition to banjo Tim teaches guitar, mandolin, piano, dulcimer, ukulele and harmonica.

Tim is the director of the Traditional Music Project at The Real School of Music in Burlington, Mass. and teaches privately from Boston, Cambridge and Somerville through the North Shore and Metro West.

Charlie Rose

Over the years, Charlie Rose has played a lot of things with a lot of people. Frequently called upon to fill the sonic spot no one else seems to be able to fill, Charlie has found a musical thread and woven it into the americana, bluegrass, folk, and rock and roll scenes.

Rose found himself drawn to the vibrant music scene in the greater northeast region, and spent over a decade living in the Boston area playing music with a multitude of bands and artists. During this time he began playing pedal steel, which today is his primary instrument. Producer Zachariah Hickman began hiring Charlie for recording sessions and to play banjo in his dynamic bluegrass band, Barnstar! Which he is actively involved in to this day as they prepare to release a 3rd album. He has been a long standing adjunct member of The Mammals (Mike and Ruthy Band), and toured and recorded with Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion, Johnathan Edwards, The Crooked Jades, Mark Erelli,

In the fall of 2014, Charlie released his first solo album of original songs, Stowaways. Shortly thereafter Charlie was asked to join Elephant Revival and began performing with them in 2015, and was a contributing songwriter to the 2016 release, Petals, with the song ‘Sea Monster’. Rose made the move back to colorful Colorado to help unify and build ER’s momentum in 2017.

Though ER is on hiatus currently, Charlie is as active as ever recording, producing, writing, and performing with various bands across the country (and world). He is excited to release an album of songs in 2020 written and inspired by the poetry of his great-grandfather, Will Ferrell, who’s 1919 publication Poems in Oil and Other Verse resides in the Library of Congress. The Charlie Rose Band will be coming to a town near you soon!

Stash Wyslouch

Celebrate the release of Stash Wyslouch’s 6th studio release album, “SOLO.”

Hailed as “the most avant-garde” Bluegrass guitarist, Stash Wyslouch’s music knows no bounds. Navigating an internal constitution featuring equal parts reverence for traditional bluegrass and a penchant for iconoclasm and experimentation, Wyslouch blends entertainment, innovation, and sacredness to make a whole all his own.

With just guitar and vocals, Wyslouch’s new album “SOLO” features interpretations of Bob Dylan, Bill Monroe, Dock Boggs and his signature stream-of-consciousness through-composed odysseys.

Polish-Colombian Stash Wyslouch is an avant-garde Bluegrass guitarist, singer and songwriter. His music delights in story-telling, improvisation and outer-space worthy composition. Despite his Heavy-Metal beginnings in middle and high school, Bluegrass music has been central to Wyslouch’s life for the past 15 years touring and recording with groups such as The Deadly Gentlemen, Bruce Molsky’s Mountain Drifters, The Jacob Jolliff Band, and Tony Trischka’s Early Roman Kings.

Darol Anger

Grammy- Nominated Freestyle Fiddler, composer, producer and educator, Darol Anger is at home in a number of musical genres, some of which he helped to invent. Exceptional among modern fiddlers for his versatility and depth, Anger has helped drive the evolution of the contemporary string band through his involvement with numerous pathbreaking ensembles such as his Republic Of Strings, the Turtle Island String Quartet, the David Grisman Quintet, Montreux, his Duo with Mike Marshall, Mr Sun, and others.

He has performed and taught all over the world with musicians such as Dr. Billy Taylor, Bela Fleck, Bill Evans, Edgar Meyer, Bill Frisell, Tony Rice, Tim O’Brien, The Anonymous 4, Marin Alsop and the Cabrillo Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony, Bruce Molsky, Mark O’Connor, and Stephane Grappelli. Today Darol can be heard on NPR’s “Car Talk” theme every week, along with Earl Scruggs, David Grisman and Tony Rice. Alumni of his touring band The Republic Of Strings include Brittany Haas, Rushad Eggleston, Jeremy Kittel, Sara Watkins, Tristan Clarridge, Mike Block, Scott Law, Gabriel Witcher, Joy Adams, Maeve Gilchrist, Scott Nygaard, and Joe K Walsh.

Darol was also the violinist on the phenomenally popular Sim City computer games. In addition to performing all over the world, he has recorded and produced scores of important recordings since 1977, is a MacDowell and UCross Fellow, and has received numerous composers’ residencies and grants. He has been a featured soloist on dozens of recordings and motion picture soundtracks.

An Associate Professor Emeritus at the prestigious Berklee School of music, he now runs an ambitious online fiddle school at ArtistWorks.com. He is interested in 5-string violin technology and has built 2.