Artist Category: Bluegrass | Page 9

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.

Barnstar!

Barnstar! delivers an aggressively joyful and passionately positive musical experience that reflects the true mission statement of these mischievous music makers – a beacon of joy in a world that could use a bit more kindness.

The brainchild of bassist and impresario Zachariah Hickman, Barnstar! features some of the Boston area’s most dynamic seasoned musicians: Mark Erelli (vocals, guitar), Charlie Rose (banjo, vocals), Taylor Armerding (mandolin, vocals), and Jake Armerding (fiddle, vocals). Their music resonates with audiences who appreciate the artistry of traditional bluegrass as well as those who are drawn to the band’s innovative and boundary-pushing approach. The band continues to record and perform, while navigating solo careers and high profile side-person gigs (with the likes of Josh Ritter, Rodney Crowell, Lori McKenna, Elephant Revival, Ray LaMontange, ROSIN, and many more).

Building off the success of their previous efforts “C’mon” (2011) and “Sit Down! Get Up! Get Out!” (2015), “Furious Kindness” showcases the diverse songwriting talents within Barnstar! Featuring original compositions such as Jake’s soulful and plaintive “Anybody Got A Light?” and the collaborative effort “Believer” by Mark, Zachariah, and Charlie, there is a sense of hope and rebirth that underlies the whole project. Noteworthy co-writes with Chuck Prophet and Dinty Child add an extra layer of depth and creativity to the album.

Influenced by their musical peers, the band draws inspiration from the likes of Elizabeth and the Catapult, Dennis Brennan, and Dave Talmage, especially Taylor’s powerful reinvention of Brennan’s “Boulder On My Back.” The covers on the album pay homage to musical legends, with reinterpretations of songs by Elliot Smith and Van Morrison adding some unexpected new contributions to the contemporary bluegrass landscape.

Wall of Grass

Wall of Grass is an interactive folk collaborative that performs in the spirit of contributing to the greater good and raises much needed funds by targeting community service organizations in need. All shows are produced by Wall of Grass founder and percussionist Joe Donnelly. Original Wall of Grass-er Catharine David has lovingly categorized the band’s genre as “cluster-folk.”

Evan Murphy

Evan Murphy is a guitarist and vocalist from Boston, MA. He is the guitarist and lead singer of the bluegrass band Mile Twelve. Evan was born and raised in Boston, MA. He received his degree in Theater and Music from Boston College. In college Evan was attracted to the rich Folk and Bluegrass scene of the Boston area. He now performs regularly as a solo artist and as a member of Mile Twelve.

Owen Marshall

Owen has performed and recorded with many of traditional music’s top performers including Aoife Clancy, Liz Carroll, Darol Anger, John Doyle, Andrea Beaton, Jerry Holland, Ari & Mia Friedman, his own traditional Irish trio “The Press Gang” and the acoustic trio “Haas, Walsh and Marshall”. His music has appeared on NPR’s “Thistle and Shamrock,” BBC television, and the back of his left elbow has appeared on MTV. In addition to being a respected performer, Owen is in demand at music camps throughout New England and the U.S., where he shares his approach to accompanying traditional music.

Lonesome Ace Stringband

Masters of their trade, The Lonesome Ace Stringband bring grit, skill and abandon to Americana music, bridging old-time, bluegrass and folk traditions into a seamless hybrid of original material that is at once fresh and timeless.

Instrumentation alone sets this Toronto-based trio’s sound apart: consisting simply of fiddle (John Showman), clawhammer banjo (Chris Coole), and upright bass (Max Heineman). The spine-tingling harmonies and interchanging lead vocals only bring more magic to the equation. They’ve become festival favourites at Rockygrass, Celtic Connections, Winnipeg Folk Festival, Merlefest and regularly tour the USA, UK, Germany and, of course, Canada.

With more than a decade of group music-making under their belts, they’re releasing their fifth album, a feisty and mighty collection of all-original material titled ‘Try To Make It Fly’ (October 13, 2023).

Call Lonesome Ace Stringband whatever genre you want – they are just unorthodox enough to be brilliant.

Hawktail

Haas Kowert Tice asked the question, what if? After forging their own brand of roots music—one grounded in timeless tradition, crafted by top-shelf musicianship, and performed with jubilant comradery—what if this trio of America’s finest string players became a quartet?

Brittany Haas (fiddle), Paul Kowert (bass), and Jordan Tice (guitar) own the sweat equity of a decade spent stoking the fires of their passion project. Haas, whose 2004 self-titled release instantly became the touchstone for a generation of old-time fiddlers, has since lent her sound to Crooked Still, Live From Here, Michael Daves – and David Rawlings, where she plays alongside Kowert, well known as Punch Brothers’ virtuosic bass player. Tice is a rare guitar player whose music showcases his unique identity and a particular knack for tune-writing. Haas Kowert Tice was a special road they could travel together.

Their 2004 album You Got This displays a breadth of acumen and ambition rarely heard on a band’s debut. Norwegian dance rhythms astride traditional Appalachian folk, bluegrass woven progressively into fundamental notions of jazz and chamber music. But for all their success, they found themselves grinding hard through recording sessions for a follow-up record. “I felt like we were missing an element,” says Kowert; “the sound was incomplete.”

Enter Dominick Leslie, the versatile mandolinist whose rhythmic sensibility has made him ubiquitous on the acoustic music scene (Noam Pikelny, The Deadly Gentlemen, Brotet). They had all already known each other for years. The trio wanted the rhythmic backbone he offered, and another plectrum to balance the dueling bows of bass and fiddle. His addition thickens the sound and tightens the groove, opening new creative doors. In short, Leslie is a great fit.

Reborn a foursome, they recut the music for the next album. The release of Unless, in reality Hawktail’s debut, is certain to confirm that this quartet has found its wings. “It feels as though this is now a whole band capable of doing anything,” says Haas.

Cousin Bobby

Cousin Bobby is a tight knit collection of high caliber bluegrass players. A rowdy band of hooligans ready to melt your face with harmonies, licks, and old-time music played like a freight train crashing through your living room. Formed in the smoldering ashes of local folk rockers The Lonesome Draw, this rosé-drenched collective of hardened pickers come prepared to make sure you go home satisfied. We’ll be playing the bluegrass music at our next family reunion.

Nash Reilly – Dobro
Owen Miles – Banjo
Chris D’Amore – Bass
Stephen Boyd – Mandolin
Joe Kenneally – Guitar

Tatiana Hargreaves

Since releasing her first solo album “Started Out To Ramble” in 2009 (produced by Bruce Molsky and featuring Sarah Jarosz, Mark Schatz, Alex Hargreaves, and more), Tatiana Hargreaves has toured with musicians from Dave Rawlings and Gillian Welch, to Laurie Lewis, Bruce Molsky, and Darol Anger. From being the second woman to place first at the Clifftop Appalachian Fiddle Contest in 2009 to the 2015 release of an EP with bassist Ethan Jodziewicz featuring traditional and original material performed by the unique duo of bowed bass and fiddle, Tatiana is dedicated to respecting and preserving oldtime and bluegrass traditions while simultaneously seeking her own musical voice and exploring new ways of approaching these styles.

In 2012 and 2013 she attended the Acoustic Music Seminar at the Savannah Music Festival, collaborating with other young acoustic musicians to explore contemporary approaches to traditional American roots genres. In the winter of 2015 she participated in the Dosti Music Project, a State Department funded program that brings together musicians from Pakistan, India and the US for a month of musical diplomacy and collaboration. Early 2016 saw three months of intensive study at La Fundación Alejo Carpentier in Havana, Cuba researching the role of the violin in Cuban music. She is most recently featured on Laurie Lewis’s new release The Hazel And Alice Sessions. Currently, Tatiana is pursuing a degree in ethnomusicology at Hampshire College and researching “the fiddle camp phenomenon.”