Taking her cues from the likes of Hoagy Carmichael, Dr Teeth & the Electric Mayhem, and The Sons of the Pioneers, Brownlee smacks of timeless, quality taste and a heckuva good time for a broad audience. Her original songs are folksy, cheeky, and thought-provoking—her stories are insightful—her charm is undeniable. Whether by house concert or recording, bringing this modern-day bard into your home will not disappoint.
In 2013 Olivia began working on a communications course she calls “Music as a Second Language” and hopes its continued development will be the answer to her interest in cross-cultural collaboration.
Listeners have called Rory Michelle Sullivan’s music “entrancing”, “most enjoyable … worshipful as well as fun” and “clever, honest, soul-bearing folk songs that transcend place, time, and circumstance and stir the imagination and tug gently but deservedly and genuinely at your heartstrings.” From upbeat anthems to intimate ballads, Rory Michelle will make you laugh, cry, and of course – sing along.
Rory Michelle has recorded four studio albums and performed internationally, including at the Morgan Park Summer Music Festival on the same stage graced by folk legends Peter Yarrow and Dar Williams. Rory Michelle and her music have been featured at festivals such as ISH, Cincinnati’s Jewish and Israeli Arts and Cultural Festival, on the Emerging Artist Showcase on Jewish Rock Radio, and in Philadelphia RowHome magazine.
Rory Michelle’s work explores relating to ourselves, others, and a spiritual Source in healthy, authentic, creative, and constructive ways. Her Jewish-themed musical endeavor, The God Album, includes fun folk, funk, rock, and swing music with songs infused, inspired, and informed by Jewish text. She is currently working on a musical. Watch the trailer, hear the music, and learn more at risinginlovethemusical.com.
Jonah Tolchin has wrestled with a wellspring of emotions in his 26 years, and in the process, has consistently found the means of integrating his sentiments into his songs. It’s been a relatively brief progression as far as his career is concerned, but the maturity and musical progression he’s tallied in that short time has been shared in sync with his coming of age.
On his upcoming Yep Roc album, Fires for the Cold, Tolchin lays bare the conflicts and quagmires that have engulfed him over the course of the last few years. Indeed, by his own admission, it’s been a difficult time. The ending of a marriage and an upheaval in his mindset left him shattered, confused and struggling to find the solace that had eluded him for too long a time.
“Every record I make is like a record in time,” Tolchin explains. “It recounts the things that I’ve observed and experienced between the last album and the current one. It’s painful for me to talk about the last few years. It’s even painful to write about it. But singing and strumming about it? That’s different. That’s the main way I feel that I’m able to interact with the impossible emotions. It’s the greatest gift that music has given me throughout my life.”
Laura Cortese might best be described as a sonic magpie: a curious and resourceful adventurer traversing great distances, collecting melodies and rhythms that glitter like jewels in the sun. Driven by the gravitational pull of human connection, her tendency towards exploration and collaboration have led her into countless niches, each providing its own unique feather with which to decorate her distinct and ever-evolving sound. But all of these explorations have one thing in common: the power of strings. This may seem limiting to some. To her, it is anything but. “Strings are at the core of what I do,” she says. “Genre is secondary to that palate.”
With her band the Dance Cards, Cortese showcases all of her varied experience and expertise–as a master fiddler, an instructor, a leader, and a musical collaborator–using it to craft a new sound from whole cloth: a nearly symphonic hybrid of countless traditions and influences, full of layered vocal harmonies and rich interplays of virtuosic string instrumentation. Expanding on the boundaries of what an indie folk band can be, Laura Cortese & the Dance Cards take their extensive string music background, add their knowledge and appreciation of folk and roots music and incorporate an edgy pop sensibility.
Dedicated to the music of the Mediterranean and the Balkans, Tamara Jokic sings in eight languages, writes her own music, and performs in a variety of styles that are uniquely brought together in her own artistic expression.
Aya Safiya is an accomplished singer, songwriter, and violinist who specializes in interpreting traditional songs from the Mediterranean, the Rromani diaspora, and island cultures. With her hauntingly beautiful and emotional voice, she captivates her listener and puts them in a spell.
Aya fell in love with music the moment her father handed her a violin at age 6, and went on to study traditional Greek island violin intensively for over 20 years. However, she didn’t limit herself to violin—she soon discovered singing and began to cultivate her voice. With guidance from master vocalists such as Eva Salina, Katerina Papadhopoulou, Kina Mendez, Merita Halili and many others, Aya has discovered her own voice within traditional music. She started performing as a vocalist at age 15, and has gone on to perform at Greek festivals in both the US and Greece, as well as at renowned venues such as The Freight and Salvage in Berkeley, The Great American Music Hall in SF, the Grand Prospect Hall in NYC, and the House of Blues in Boston.
Bay Area-born and currently based in Boston, Aya has traveled to the Balkans, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Okinawa, and Cuba in search of not only music, but also a deeper understanding of the traditions from which the music comes. She performs with numerous groups including Agapi Mou, Romantique, Sarma Brass Band, Taraf de Locos, The Aya & Tano Collective, and has recently been developing her solo set in collaboration with musicians from the vibrant international music scene in Boston.
Hannah Siglin is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist from the Inland Northwest. Raised on folk music and studied in classical training, her songs tangle intricate guitar parts with raw and intimate lyrics, beautiful both stripped down to her guitar and voice, or set over the dynamics of her band—acoustic bass, fiddle, and mandolin. Since moving to Boston to study songwriting at Berklee College of Music in 2015, Siglin has been honored with the Pat Pattison Scholarship, opened for Margaret Glaspy at The Red Room, and her band has been featured at Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival in 2017 and 2019. She draws inspiration from a deep love of nature and her songs explore the themes that have shaped her coming of age–the losing and redefining of faith, love, and identity.
Born in 1987 in Minas Gerais, Cesar Garabini is an Italian-Brazilian 7-string guitarist that specializes in Choro, the predecessor to the well known Brazilian music styles Samba and Bossa Nova.
Choro began in the 1890s as a mix of European classical and folk with African rhythms, its popularity began in the 1900s and continues to present day. Music became his passion at the first sound of the guitar. At 13 while walking home from school he saw two musicians playing classical guitar and it inspired him to take lessons. A citizen of the world, Cesar has lived in the Brazil, Italy, and the United States, each influenced his playing and growth as a musician, teacher and performer.
In 2009 Cesar started putting together Samba, Bossa Nova and Chorinho bands, performing in Florence and other regions of Italy. In 2011 he moved to New York City to expand his musical knowledge. In the past 7 years he has performed at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Jazz Standard, Birdland, Columbia University, the Museum of Modern Art, with a monthly residence at Barbes. He has worked with Anat Cohen, Olli Soikkeli and Tim Connell. He has been featured on NPR, NBC and Global.
Neha’s music has that nostalgic quality to it, one that will have you feeling like you’re sitting in a Parisian street café sipping a glass of champagne. Her arrangements are thoughtful and complex, and her sumptuous powerhouse of a voice will leave you awed at the 5’2 framed young Indian woman.
A gifted singer, composer & pianist, Neha’s style can be characterized as a smorgasbord of musical personalities. She cites influences such as Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Otis Redding, Donny Hathaway, Sam Cooke, Dinah Washington, and Carmen MacRae, to name a few. While definitely rooted in jazz, elements of folk, blues, pop and her mother’s classical indian musical background also permeate.
A graduate of Northwestern University with a B.A. in Economics, Neha spent four years working for Google in the Bay Area before leaving to pursue a graduate degree in jazz vocal performance at the New England Conservatory of Music. Neha has amassed a list of noteworthy credits, as a performer, educator and songwriter. Her performance credits include headlining at the famous off-Broadway show “Sleep No More,” performing with her songwriting project at Lincoln Center, and being a recurring guest of Dan Zanes, multi-grammy award winning songwriter and artist.
A recipient of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest finalist award for her original song ‘The Willow Tree,’ Neha released her debut album in January 2014, “The Dreamer.” She debuted her first record, Life Imagined, with folk/jazz indie band Everything Turned to Color in June 2017, and is currently working on her sophomore record with the trio. She resides in Brooklyn, NY where she has taught on the faculty at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music in Park Slope, at the prestigious Brooklyn Youth Chorus and at the Jalopy Theater and Music School in Red Hook.
Born and raised outside of Boston, Emma Frank spent almost ten years in Montreal, working, getting a literature degree at McGill University, and working on songwriting before moving to New York City four years ago. Frank’s last album, Ocean Av, which Popmatters described as “a minor masterpiece” (Will Layman), combined modern jazz sensibilities and folk songwriting, and featured pianist Aaron Parks, drummer Jim Black, bassist Rick Rosato and producer/guitarist Franky Rousseau. Her fourth and newest album, “Come Back,” out September 6th on Justin Time Records and Nettwerk Music Group, is an avant folk exploration featuring pianist Aaron Parks and produced by Franky Rousseau.
