In Sound an Echo, Rachael Kilgour & Sara Pajunen create and perform modern, minimalist arrangements of old songs that have survived the test of time. Partners in both their personal and musical lives, Kilgour and Pajunen’s collaborative work is inventive, compelling and assuringly intimate.
Kilgour is an award-winning songwriter whose sincere and lyric-driven work (‘a heartfelt slice of indie folk’ [Billboard]) has been heard at Lincoln Center and The Sundance Film Festival. A classically-trained violinist studying contemporary improvisation, Pajunen is a sound artist, composer and an acclaimed progressive practitioner of Nordic folk music with “extra elusive appeal…” (fRoots).
Sound an Echo is interested in bringing new life to the old and remembering how to sing together again. Their debut album will be released in early 2020.
Youth in a Roman Field wants to help you break the rules. The bastardized string quartet meets folk band meets jazz combo from singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Claire Wellin incorporates sounds of “Appalachia, cayenne pepper, & ghosts.”
The band includes collaborators Tiffany Topol, Scott Stangland, Cassidy Stirtz, and Jamie Mohamdein, and uses their collective training in classical, jazz, and folk traditions to create an original, progressive sound with sweeping, powerful vocals at the forefront. Their debut LP, ‘Of Grit and Grace,’ was released in May of 2012, and the EP ‘Suits for Children’ in October 2014. Originally out of Chicago, the band now resides in New York City and released their second full-length album, ‘Storm Conductor,’ produced with the Grammy-winning Stewart Lerman, in April 2018.
“Gail is one of the best ballad singers I’ve ever heard”…”she captures the pathos and fun in a wide ranging repertoire”…”Gail was a thorough delight…singing with an angelic softness”. These are a few reviews in the press about Gail over her forty years performing in the Boston area folk scene. A singer–songwriter, she also draws some of her repertoire from traditional music. Gail plays guitar, ukulele, and is considered to be one of the primary innovators on the Appalachian dulcimer in New England. With four solo albums to her credit, Gail also released two albums with her former a cappella group “Taproot”. She’s shared the stage with Tom Rush, Nanci Griffith, Garnet Rogers, Odetta, and Pete Seeger. Gail will be joined by a merry band of players: Paul Loranger on bass, Woody Carpinella on guitar, and Lori Fassman on vocals. Her daughter, Hannah Shihdanian, will join in on a few songs as well.
Although Paul Loranger has spent most of his adult life in the Los Angeles area, he grew up in Boston MA and has recently returned to Massachusetts. At an early age he developed an interest in bass but it wasn’t until HS that he began playing. By his senior year he was playing jazz standards in the Boston area. At 22 he began touring. Paul has toured in blues, blues rock and traditional country internationally. He has toured every state in the US, every country in Europe, as well as Australia, Japan, Africa and South America. He plays both upright bass and electric bass. As well as touring Paul has recorded for numerous artists in various genres including pop, pop country, traditional country, alt country, rock, blues rock, bluegrass and jazz. Paul considers himself a roots and groove player rather than a virtuoso.
Lori Fassman has been singing since she was a child, belting out songs by folk-rock legends such as Carole King and Bonnie Raitt, and she started performing when she moved to the Boston area in the late ‘80s. She sings with a folk music quartet called The Simones (named after her late cat), which has been together almost 30 years. These days she spends much of her spare time producing concerts and doing other volunteer jobs for folk organizations like the Folk Song Society of Greater Boston (FSSGB) and the New England Folk Festival Association (NEFFA).”
Woody Carpinella has been playing guitar since the mid-60’s in Beatles and Rolling Stones cover bands, toured with R&B bands, and played occasionally with rock, country rock, disco and funk bands. He was a folkie in high school, listening to Tom Rush, Leo Kottke and Joni Mitchell. In 2010, musician and presenter Ellen Schmidt was influential in developing his career in the Boston folk scene. He has become a much sought after side man and accompanist for singers, especially in the open mike community.
Shawn Kekoa Pimental is a 5-time Na Hoku Hanohano Award winner and Grammy Nominated Music Producer and Artist. He has produced records for Kealii Reichel, Lehua Kalima, Na Palapalai, Kaumakaiwa Kanakaole, Na Leo Pilimehana, Kainani Kahaunaele, Justin Young, Chad Takatsugi, Three Plus, Rebel Souljahz and many more.
Shawn has also composed and produced music for Mike Post, Disney and other Award-Winning shows. He has also toured the world as a Musical Director and Band Member for many other artists, sharing the stage with Janet Jackson, Colbie Caillat, Maxi Priest, Steel Pulse, America and Jack Johnson. Shawn has worked with just about every well known Musician and Award Winning Kumu Hula in Hawaiʻi. He has produced shows for many venues, corporate events, concerts and cruise ships. Shawn also owns the award winning record label KOOPS2 Entertainment and co-owns Studio Ala Moana.
A riveting performer, Kaumakaiwa creates some of the most original work to emerge in contemporary Hawaiian music, drawing from ancestral memory and hula practice as chant transforms to melody. Kaumakaiwa seamlessly melds Hawaiian culture and modern sensibilities in deeply powerful music.
Kaumakaiwa Kanaka‘ole has been on stage since she could walk. A charismatic dancer and singer, with an impressive vocal range from tenor chant to Hawaiian falsetto singing, she is a five-time Nā Hōkū Hanohano [Hawaiian “Grammy”] Award-winner with 3 solo CDs to her name. She is the great grandchild of Edith Kanaka‘ole, who was one of the seminal figures of the Hawaiian Renaissance which helped bring Hawaiian culture back into the central life of the Islands. Since birth, Kaumakaiwa has dedicated her life to her illustrious family’s practice and passion – hula (Hālau O Kekuhi) and Hawaiian culture. Her vocal performances are an outgrowth of the Hawaiian art of chant and songwriting, with roots in rhythms and metaphors of hula. She was honored with an NACF (Native Arts & Cultures Foundation) Fellowship Award. In 2018, she was invited to be an Opening Plenary Speaker at the APAP’s annual national conference in New York, as well as sit on a world music panel. She was the first Hawaiian performer to appear at globalFEST in New York.
A modern transgender Hawaiian (mahu wahine), she is a vibrant keeper of culture, an authentic innovator, and fun, as she engages indigenous thought to address today’s issues through music, chant, and sharing of spirit. With plenty of humor, she provides wry commentary and stories to give context to her songs. Award-winning musician and producer Shawn Pimental accompanies on guitar and backup vocals.
“A good song has a way of speaking to everybody” Danny Barnes says. “I have faith that more people are going to hear my songs, which is really what I have to offer. I’m not one of those virtuoso instrumentalists, I can’t compete with those guys, but the one thing I can do is write really good songs.”
Part Southern gentleman, part humble artist, Barnes is being more than a bit self-effacing with this statement. Widely regarded as one of the most innovative and genre-bending artists of his craft, Barnes’ musical interests are both varied and adventurous, and he incorporates that versatility into a progressive approach to an instrument that is musically polarizing and steeped in tradition. Although he demonstrates an appreciation for the history of the bluegrass, country, and folk music from which the banjo’s reputation was born, his inventive take is what truly separates him from his contemporaries…using the banjo as his ‘weapon of choice’ to play non-traditional music like rock, fusion, and jazz with electronic percussion and loop elements.
Barnes frequently plays with artists such as guitarist Bill Frisell, Dave Matthews, and keyboardist Wayne Horvitz and has composed the scores to Richard Linklater’s The Newton Boys and (with Frisell) the documentary American Hollow. Today he is working primarily on his solo-project, and sometimes tours with a trio consisting of Joe K Walsh, Grant Gordy, & himself. His upcoming album features all his most recent original works that will feature musicians such as Dave Matthews, Bill Frisell, Matt Chamberlain, & John Paul Jones.
Giovanina Bucci is a singer-songwriter based out of Burlington, VT. She is a member of the Blues/Soul/Roots Rock group, Nina’s Brew, as a vocalist and rhythm guitar player. Born and raised in Plattsburgh, NY, Giovanina has spent the latter half of her life attempting to appease a relentless appetite for travel and exploration. She has made homes for herself in Ithaca, NY, Londonderry, Ireland, St. Thomas, USVI, Flagstaff, AZ, Durango, CO, and now Burlington.
Having soaked up a diverse catalog of influences, culture, and conversations along the way–her style is nothing short of eclectic. Rooted in blues, soul, folk and reggae, she writes about the intimate experiences that have shaped her as a human and as a songstress. A live performance quickly indicates how deeply Giovanina feels the songs, where and whom they were inspired by, and the stories behind them. She has released two solo albums, The Road Home in 2013 and A Bit of Alright in 2015. Nina’s Brew released their first EP, Don’t Tell Mama, in 2018 and are touring heavily throughout the northeast. Giovanina continues to balance her music career as a soloist, band member, and alongside the many talented friends with whom she collaborates.
Eamon O’Leary is a songwriter from New York’s Lower East Side, originally from Dublin, Ireland. ‘All Souls’, his first album for Reveal Records (out 29 June), was entirely self-written and recorded with Jefferson Hamer (Anais Mitchell), and Benjamin Lazar Davis (Cuddle Magic, Joan As Police Woman, Okkervil River). A beautiful, sparse album of darkness and light.
‘All Souls’ is ten songs that highlight O’Leary’s musical talent and his knack for writing heartfelt, poetic lyrics. Like Leonard Cohen, Smog, Jackson C. Frank and Palace before him, this is music from deep within the mind and from the soul, personal stories wrapped in extremely delicate layers of sound. Eamon O’Leary has spent twenty years in New York developing his songcraft, appearing live and collaborating with esteemed artists such as Sam Amidon, Beth Orton, Bonnie Prince Billy, Anais Mitchell, Anna and Elizabeth, Martin Hayes (The Gloaming) Jefferson Hamer, Bridget Kearney (Lake Street Dive) and Benjamin Lazar Davis. ‘all souls’ is released on June 29th LP / CD / DL on Reveal Records.
Elana Arian is one of the leading voices in contemporary Jewish music. A composer, multi-instrumentalist, and recording artist, Elana inspires communities across the country with her soulful songwriting and spirit. She recently released her third album of original music – A Spark of Light – a collaboration with Grammy-winning producer, Ben Wisch. Elana has served on the faculty of both Shirei Chagiga in London and the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in New York, working as a teaching artist in the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music. In addition to her work as a guest Artist in Residence for communities across the United States, Elana spent 12 years in residence in the Friday worship ensemble at Central Synagogue. She has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Tanglewood, and perhaps most memorably, five separate appearances at the (Obama) White House.
Raised on equal parts Mozart, Mingus, and Mitchell, Elana studied conducting and violin, jazz guitar, and songwriting at Yale. Elana has appeared on NPR’s Soundcheck, as well as on PBS’ Finding Your Roots. A sought-after studio musician, Elana also maintains a busy recording schedule (see below), working with such varied artists as Peter Yarrow, the Dirty Projectors, and Catie Curtis. She also held the guitar chair in the smash revival of Sweet Charity starring Tony award-winner, Sutton Foster.
When not performing, recording, or writing, Elana spends her time chasing her daughter, Maya, around Brooklyn with her wife, Julia.
If nerditude had a formal name, it would be Grace Morrison.
She’s a little bit of everything—pianist, accordion player, Renaissance Faire performer, cranberry grower, reader of historical nonfiction, coffee devotee (she sells her own coffee blend), and an unapologetic expert on all things New England. And somehow, all these quirks weave seamlessly into the fabric of her music, making her one of the most unique and endearing songwriters around. Born and raised on the shores of Cape Cod, Grace Morrison has trademarked a sound she calls Saltwater Country. “I was always too pop for folk and too folk for country. Eventually, I started peeling back the layers of my music to find out what truly made it mine. At the heart of it all was my deep, undeniable connection to the Cape Cod coastline—it’s in my blood, in my voice, in every lyric I write. My music carries the storytelling of country, the twang, but also the raw, unshakable spirit of a Swamp Yankee. That’s Saltwater Country.”
