Artist Category: Country | Page 6

Kinky Friedman

At long last, Kinky Friedman’s second musical act begins. With the proclamation that it “is what music was, before it came homogenized, trivialized and sanitized,” Kinky is dropping his first all new cd of original tunes in four decades. Called Circus Of Life, it presents a side of Kinky that few would have suspected in the halcyon days of the Texas Jewboys, laying perhaps legit claim to the title, “The Leonard Cohen of Texas.”

And on July 3rd, he will be releasing it on his own terms and on his own Echo Hill Records label. A monster summer tour will follow in June, July, and August. Yep, Kinky is finally doing it his way. Harking to his early years, he has chosen to ignore the Nashville ethos, that all must be concertedly “radio friendly,” sweetened, and over-produced. What he and producer Brian Molnar have delivered is simply one of the most beautiful albums of this year or any other. The first single, Autographs In The Rain (Song To Willie) is already in heavy rotation on SiriusXM Outlaw Country, and there are at least four more top shelf A sides.

Speaking of Brian Molnar, he will be touring as Kinky’s opening act for most, if not all shows, promoting his new cd, Within Blue, also on the Echo Hill Records imprint. Kinky and Brian have worked a number of tours together and now deliver a seamless performance, opener to headliner.

The Quebe Sisters

When the Quebe Sisters from Texas take a stage, and the triple-threat fiddle champions start playing and singing in multi-part close harmony, audiences are usually transfixed, then blown away.

It’s partly because the trio’s vocal and instrumental performances are authentic all-Americana, all the time, respectful of the artists that inspired them the most. And whether the Quebes (rhymes with “maybe”) are decked out in denims and boots or fashionably dressed to the nines in makeup, skirts and heels, the fresh-faced, clean-cut sisters, all in their 20s, look as good as they sound.

The sisters’ past is as colorful and eventful as their future is bright. Growing up in Burleson, a southern suburb of Fort Worth, Hulda, Sophia and Grace were ages 7, 10 and 12 in 1998 when they attended their first local fiddle competition in nearby Denton, and decided fiddling was what they wanted to do.

The girls earned solo and group accolades early on, winning state and national championships in their respective age groups in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002. The Quebes’ evolution from the whiz-kid Western swing fiddlers they were back then to the smokin’-hot
young adult Americana band they are today is a remarkable story, by any measure.

Tish Hinojosa

Singer-Songwriter Leticia “Tish” Hinojosa was born on December 6, 1955 in San Antonio, Texas to Mexican immigrant parents. She is the youngest of thirteen siblings. Professing a longstanding interest in music, Hinojosa began performing at an early age. She has released 16 albums between 1987 and 2024 in English and Spanish in a variety of musical genres such as folk, country, pop and Latino. Hinojosa’s interest in cultural diversity is a recurrent theme in both her work and her personal life, and is expressed not only through her award-winning cross-cultural musical productions but also in her volunteer work with several humanitarian organizations and causes.

Tish left San Antonio in 1979, moving to northern New Mexico where she honed her songwriting and singing skills and worked as back-up singer for country artist, Michael Martin Murphey. She also lived for a period in Nashville, Tennessee. During this time, she worked as a demo singer for Mel Tillis’ publishing company. She eventually settled in Austin, Texas in 1988 where she was welcomed by Austin’s vibrant live music scene.

In 1987 Hinojosa recorded her first self-released album, “Taos To Tennessee”. After her move to Austin, she was signed to A&M Records and released her first internationally acclaimed record “Homeland”. The song “Donde Voy” (Where I Go), earned quadruple platinum status in South Korea. In 1992, she signed with Rounder records, releasing five albums with that label. “Culture Swing” was named Folk Album of The Year by the National Association of Independent Record Distributers (NAIRD). “Cada Niño”, a bilingual (Spanish-English) children’s record won the prestigious “Parent’s Choice Gold Award” in 1996. Other records on this label are “Frontejas” a collection of original and traditional Spanish language songs celebrating the Texas-Mexican border, “Sign of Truth”, and a live record, “The Best of Tish Hinojosa Live”, recorded at one of Austin’s premier listening rooms “The Cactus Café” on The University of Texas campus in 2002.

In between her time at A&M and Rounder Records, Tish recorded with Austin based “Watermelon Records”, releasing her popular Spanish language live record “Aquella Noche” (That Certain Night), and the Christmas themed “Memorabilia Navideña”, re-released later in 2002 as “From Texas For a Christmas Night” on the New West record label.

In 1994, Tish signed with Warner Brothers Records in Nashville and produced two albums alongside acclaimed producer Jim Ed Norman – “Destiny’s Gate” and the bilingual and all Spanish “Dreaming from The Labyrinth”/ “Soñar Del Laberinto”. In addition to an active recording and touring schedule, Hinojosa appeared on multiple television broadcasts including the ABC TV special of the Alma Awards in which she was an honoree and performed duets with Dwight Yoakam and Kenny Loggins. She also made three separate appearances on PBS’s “Austin City Limits”, appeared on Good Morning America, on ONYX TV in Germany, WDR TV Germany, SWR TV Switzerland, and VPRO TV Netherlands.

Hinojosa’s humanitarian works include serving as spokesperson for both The National Latino Children’s Agenda and The National Association of Bilingual Education, and was active with The United Farmworkers of America. Tish also performed at The White House by invitation of President and Mrs. Clinton.

Hinojosa was married to entertainment attorney Craig Barker from 1982 to 1999. Barker managed her career and filled in as bass player in her band. The couple have two children, Adam Craig Barker, born in Nashville in 1984, and Maria Cristina Barker (Nina), born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1987. Tish lived in Hamburg, Germany, from 2005-2013. While there, she recorded three albums, “A Heart Wide Open”, “Our Little Planet”, and “After the Fair”, and continued touring throughout Europe and the U.S.

In 2018, Tish recorded an album entitled “West”. In 2019, she was inducted into “The Texas Institute of Letters” – the second singer-songwriter after Willie Nelson to achieve that honor. Tish and her husband, Lynn Nixon, divide their time between Austin, Texas, and Tubac, Arizona. She continues to write, record and tour. She enjoys spending time with her large extended family in San Antonio, with her children, and five grandchildren.

Hinojosa continues to support Humanitarian, Bilingual, and cultural causes, particularly Hispanic cultural causes through her performances and participation in school and cultural outreach programs.

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.

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!

Annie Raines

Annie Raines was born in 1969 in Boston and grew up in the suburb of Newton, Massachusetts. She picked up the blues harp at 17 and made her stage debut at the 1369 Jazz Club in Cambridge a few months before her high school graduation. Enthralled by the recordings of Muddy Waters, Little Walter Jacobs, Big Walter Horton and Sonny Boy Williamson, she became a fixture at Boston area blues jams. She briefly attended Antioch College and 1988 interned with Washington, DC homeless rights activist Mitch Snyder, who persuaded her to drop out of school to pursue her musical career. One of the few female blues harmonica players in the country, Annie played the New England club circuit with local bands, and traveled to Chicago where she met and played with many of her musical idols including Pinetop Perkins, Louis Myers, and James Cotton. She also enjoyed yearlong stints with the Tarbox Ramblers and the Susan Tedeschi Band, going on to perform on Susan’s first three albums. She lives in Boston with her number one musical hero, Paul Rishell.

Mary Gauthier

Dark Enough To See The Stars

“Writing helps me sort out confusion, untangle powerful emotions, and ward off desperation. It helps me navigate the powerful emotional weather systems of life.”
– Mary Gauthier, Saved by a Song: The Art and Healing Power of Songwriting

As she has so eloquently accomplished over the past 25 years, acclaimed singer-songwriter Mary Gauthier has used her art once again to traverse the uncharted waters of the past few years. “I’m the kind of songwriter who writes what I see in the world right now,” she affirms. Thankfully, amid dark storms of pandemic loss, she found and followed the beacon of new love: Her gift to us, the powerful Dark Enough to See the Stars, collects ten sparkling jewels of Gauthier songcraft reflecting both love and loss.

Her eleventh album, Dark Enough to See the Stars, follows the profound antidote to trauma, Rifles & Rosary Beads, her 2018 collaborative work with wounded Iraq war veterans. It garnered a Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album, as well as a nomination for Album of the Year by the Americana Music Association. Publication of her first book, the illuminating Saved by a Song: The Art and Healing Power of Songwriting, in 2021, brought her more praise. Brandi Carlile has said, “Mary’s songwriting speaks to the tender aspects of our humanness. We need her voice in times like these more than we ever have.” The Associated Press called Gauthier “one of the best songwriters of her generation.”

Gauthier’s early work, which began at 35, reflected her newfound sobriety, delving into events from a troubled life, which persisted after she became a renowned chef in Boston. Dark Enough to See the Stars returns Gauthier to the scintillating confessional mode on such albums as her breakthrough release, 2005’s Mercy Now, as well as such ear worms as the hook-laden “Drag Queens in Limousines.” In addition to crafting instantly memorable songs, Gauthier has never shied away from difficult self-exploration, as with 2010’s The Foundling, on which she explored the repercussions of her adoption from a New Orleans orphanage and subsequent search for her birth mother.

On Dark Enough to See the Stars, she mourns recent devastating losses: the deaths of John Prine, David Olney, Nanci Griffith, and her beloved friend Betsy. But she also sings open-heartedly of love. All ten tracks prove Gauthier’s belief, as stated in Saved by a Song, that “songs can bring us a deep understanding of each other and ourselves and open the heart to love.”

Deep emotion resonates throughout Dark Enough to See the Stars. “It kicks off with three love songs,” says Gauthier. “Somewhere along the work I’ve done in therapy through art and 32 years of recovery, I’ve somehow stabilized enough to be in a relationship that works – and I want to express that in these songs.” The joyous triad – the catchy “Fall Apart World,” the lilting ballad “Amsterdam,” and gospel-tinged “Thank God for You” – each punctuated with Danny Mitchell’s evocative keyboards – comes alive with poetic imagery.

“Thank God for You” contrasts her former life – “another junkie jonesing on a Greyhound bus” – with the state of grace she’s found. Lush instrumentation perfectly underpins the anthemic “Fall Apart World,” which Gauthier calls “adult music.” While on a writing sojourn in Key West, she explains, “It’s understanding that things come together and things fall apart. The awareness of that is an opportunity for gratitude. Right now, I’m looking out the window – and I can’t believe I get to be here! I don’t take it for granted for one millisecond!”

Gauthier’s partner, Jaimee Harris, who sings harmony throughout the album, co-wrote the paean to one of Gauthier’s favorite cities. “I have a long history with Amsterdam,” Gauthier recounts. “My first record deal was on a Dutch label, and I tour there regularly, and much of Mercy Now was written at my favorite hotel there.” A canceled flight to Denmark landed Gauthier and Harris in Amsterdam for an unexpected three days during the pandemic. “To return to that hotel and be able to share that with the person I love and show her the city…,” Gauthier pauses. “It’s complicated – because all around the edges was the pandemic. But you’ve got to express your joy – a joy that’s not free from pain. There’s grief all around us, but there’s this ability to still love and still be aware that the sky is beautiful and the hand that I’m holding is filled with love…”

The album’s bittersweet title track, “Dark Enough to See the Stars,” cowritten with Beth Nielsen Chapman, resonates with that very same emotion. “When things get really hard and the walls are closing in and it starts to get dark, you realize what really matters,” Gauthier says. “And what really matters, of course, is love. Even though my friend Betsy is gone, I get to hold on to her love. And I get to hold on to the love that John Prine showed me, and Nanci Griffith and David Olney. It occurred to me while working on the title track that love didn’t die with them. That was a gift that was given to me that I get to keep.”

As on the memory-rich track, “The Meadow,” Fats Kaplin’s haunting pedal steel guitar expresses the sonics of fleeting time, a theme Gauthier explores on one of the first songs written for the album, back in 2019. After performing in Albany, New York, the solitary troubadour found herself yearning for her newly discovered soulmate’s “candlestick fingers on my skin”: The poignant “About Time” documents that lonesome highway, while the singalong waltz “Truckers and Troubadours” acknowledges musical vagabonds’ kinship with long-haulers; in fact, Gauthier and co-writer Darden Smith collaborated with Paul “Long Haul” Marhoefer on the ear-catching lyrics. “Paul said that when Darden and I get together and start talking,” says Gauthier, “we sound like two truck drivers.”

Finally, Dark Enough to See the Stars bids farewell to Gauthier’s tragically departed friends: “Where Are You Now” paints an autumnal picture of the trails where she and Betsy roamed; “How Could You Be Gone” expresses in detail the disbelief inherent in our goodbyes; and “Til I See You Again” offers a prayer “to all those I hope to reunite with,” says Gauthier.

As throughout Dark Enough to See the Stars, all three compositions exemplify Mary Gauthier’s songwriting brilliance: They offer beauty in sorrow, healing in loss, and a perspective only an artist of uncommon generosity can give. Thank God for Mary Gauthier.

Miss Tess

Miss Tess got her musical start at home in Maryland, her childhood nights ending in music. Her parents would sing her to sleep with the gentle, tender sounds of American folk songs, occasionally interrupted by their 30s swing band rehearsing in the basement.

Tess studied piano as a child, and continued on as a teenager to take up the guitar and singing, and eventually began her own studies in early jazz and blues. All grown up and currently living in Nashville, Miss Tess and her band regularly steal the show at venues with something a little rowdier and more eclectic. Infused with classic country and honky-tonk, southern rhythm & blues, New Orleans jazz and swing, and sounds of swamp pop and early rock n’ roll, she is an embodiment of everything that it still home-grown in America.

The Secret Sisters

There are two ways of handling a dangerous, raging river: you can surrender and let it carry you away, or you can swim against the flow.

For The Secret Sisters, there was a point after the release of their last record when they could have chosen to do neither – instead, sinking to the bottom as the weight of the world washed away their dreams. They went from touring with Bob Dylan to losing their label, purging their team, filing bankruptcy and almost permanently trading harmonies for housecleaning. But there’s a mythical pull to music that kept sisters Laura and Lydia Rogers moving forward, and they came out with a biting and beautiful third LP, produced by Brandi Carlile, You Don’t Own Me Anymore. Their first as New West signees, it’s a document of hardship and redemption, of pushing forward when it would be so much easier to drown in grief. And it’s a story about how passion and pure artistry can be the strongest sort of salvation – how art is left, like perfect grains of sand, when everything else has washed away.