Ellie Barber a.k.a. Ollella’s career as a musician started early, when she sang before she could talk. Trained as a classical cellist since the age of nine, the Seattle indie-folk musician merges her technical string background with authoritative vocals and live-looping. Described as “really outstanding” by NPR Music and “so tastefully done” by Michelle Zauner (Japanese Breakfast), Ollella’s sound is organic with a side of edge, pulling on influences such as Feist, Cat Power, and Sylvan Esso. She is a two-time finalist in the NPR Tiny Desk Contest (2024, 2022), has had music featured in film and TV, and is a frequent collaborator with others. She finds herself drawn to music because it unlocks a particular flavor of humanity – one that fits the type of world she believes in.
Artist Category: Indie Folk
Peryle
Peryle is a groundbreaking New England-based singer-songwriter who has immersed herself in the world of music since her early years. Her music is a blend of indie-pop and folk. Her songs are often personal and introspective. Beyond her musical endeavors, Peryle is driven by a fervent desire to effect positive change in the world. She utilizes her platform to spread love and advocate for social justice. With her star on the rise, Peryle is poised to make a lasting impact in the music industry. Her skillful songwriting, captivating vocals, and an unyielding dedication to social change set her apart as a true force to be reckoned with. She hopes you get exactly what you need when you listen to her music. Take a deep breath and enjoy.
Tall Tall Trees
Tall Tall Trees is the musical id of songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mike Savino, a pioneer in the realm of experimental, DIY banjo music. Accompanied by his trusty Banjotron 6500, a highly customized, electrified banjo and effects pedal setup, Savino has wowed audiences since the 2009 debut of his self-titled album with his eclectic and innovative blend of psychedelic folk, rock and world music. His work seems to actively evade comfortable definition, upon first listen one will recognize the tenderness of Cat Stevens, the melancholy introspection of Elliott Smith, the anthemic psychedelia of Pink Floyd, and a deep abiding respect for Earl Scruggs. Savino often performs solo, showcasing his fleet-footed loop pedal mastery, as well as alongside long-time collaborator and fellow innovator, Kishi Bashi. He has recently collaborated with fellow psych-banjo maestro JD Pinkus of the Butthole Surfers, releasing Ponder Machine, a psychedelic banjo opus on the Shimmy Disc label. Tall Tall Trees latest release and 5th LP, Stick to the Mystical I, featuring a collaboration with Josiah Wolf of the band Why? is out September 8th, 2023 on Joyful Noise Recordings.
davy
davy is the recording project of singer-songwriter + producer duo Megan and Daniel Tavani. The Boston-based couple weaves their classical background with indie-folk & alt-pop idioms to depict stories of life, grief, faith, and love. Daniel is an independent music producer, audio engineer, and multi-instrumentalist, touring with artists such as Owl City and Josh Garrels. Megan enjoys an eclectic freelance career as a vocalist, cellist, and songwriter, most recently recording and performing with the Porter’s Gate.
Zoe Lloyd
Zoe Lloyd is a singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles. Her debut album Blue Letters (January 2023) walks the line between indie rock, folk, and country. Born and raised in Massachusetts, she and her band are working on new album at Woolly Mammoth Sound in Waltham, MA. Blending elements of modern indie folk artists like Adrianne Lenker with her old favorites such as Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, Townes Van Zandt & others, Zoe Lloyd writes old songs with a new voice.
Kalliope Jones
Kalliope Jones (Isabella DeHerdt, Wes Chalfant, and Alouette Batteau) is a post-rock power trio from Western Massachusetts. Originally a folk-rock group, Kalliope Jones has developed its soundscape to bend gender-genre-genius from r&b, pop punk, and alt indie. Kalliope Jones weaves three unique songwriting styles into a fusion that fabricates the fibers of cosmological being. Through confession and collaboration, the band has made its way to the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, the Iron Horse Music Hall, the Wolftrap Center for Performing Arts, Club Passim, and most recently, Dar Williams’ River Roads Festival, where Kalliope Jones played alongside the likes of Amy Ray, Shawn Colvin, and Lisa Loeb. Kalliope Jones has been sonically compared to Annie DiRusso, HAIM, and boygenius. At 22, 22, and 24, Kalliope Jones’ ever-heightening anti-solipsistic sophistication is representative of wisdom beyond their years and no sign of slowing down.
Adeline Hotel
In the tender, surrealist world that Knishkowy has developed under the name Adeline Hotel, stories have been told through sprawling psych-rock epics (2020’s Solid Love), stark solo guitar performances (2021’s Good Timing), piano-led orchestral song cycles (2021’s The Cherries Are Speaking), and lush, jazzy compositions that felt like a genre unto themselves (2023’s Hot Fruit). Inspired by indie lifers and fellow world-builders like Jim O’Rourke and Phil Elverum, the Ruination Records co-founder has rewritten the rule book with each new project, inviting listeners to join as he discovers new channels for his singular voice. By now the sound of Adeline Hotel is equally identifiable through Knishkowy’s dextrous fingerpicking—the aural equivalent of tracing your fingers through cool sand at sunrise—as his low, whispered vocals and autumnal melodies.
Grace Givertz
Hailing from the sunshine state of Florida, Grace Givertz captivates audiences with her indie folk compositions, blending earworm melodies with heartfelt storytelling. As a multi-instrumentalist, she infuses her music with a diverse array of sounds, weaving folk, Americana, and indie rock into a tapestry uniquely her own. Drawing inspiration from her personal journey living with chronic illness, Givertz’s music resonates with raw emotion and introspection. Her experiences infuse her songs with depth and authenticity, inviting listeners to explore themes of resilience and vulnerability. She has also been heavily involved with the Black Opry, an organization dedicated to highlighting and supporting Black musicians in the country music industry.
Olive Klug
Olive Klug refuses to be put in a box. Working out who you are in front of an ever-growing audience is no small task, but one that the Portland-born, Nashville-based singer/songwriter is up for and thriving.
Olive graduated with a liberal arts degree shortly before the 2020 pandemic derailed their plans of pursuing a career in social work. Though they’d recorded and self-released the 2019 EP “Fire Alarm” from a childhood friend’s bedroom, up until early 2021, Olive categorized their music as either a hobby or a pipe dream, depending on who was asking. However, after being laid off of a teaching job in late 2020, Olive starting working as a barista and decided to commit all of their extra energy to an ever-growing community of fans online.
Olive can’t help but be unapologetically themselves, something their community of fans (dubbed the “Klug Bugs” on Instagram and Discord) appreciate most about them. Their debut LP ranges from a playful Americana romp about “watching all the rules disintegrate” to folk-punk anthem “Coming of Age,” which somehow manages to reference both pop singer Taylor Swift and existential philosopher Kierkegaard in one song, to “Parched”‘s haunting modern ballad about a doomed relationship, to an indie rock closer about learning to take up space as a person with a marginalized identity. Through this no-holds-barred documentation of the struggles of their early adulthood, Klug embraces all their inner contradictions with reckless abandon.
Combining their knack for storytelling with a lilting soprano voice, Klug offers observations with an unflinching honesty. “I’ll stop seeking to find, start saying what’s on my mind,” sings Klug on Out Of Line, the lead single from their 2023 label-debut album, Don’t You Dare Make Me Jaded.
The album takes on the world with visceral and tactile images: it finds them falling in love with reckless abandon, haunted by the ghost of an old lover, waiting for fairies in the backyard of their childhood home. Olive’s work is optimistic, but not naive. Klug emerged into the scene in fraught times: for the folk landscape, for the country, for themself. By combining Golden Age folk references and contemporary narratives with ease, Olive Klug is a singular voice for the future of folk: honest, compelling, often unsure, but willing to try anyway.
2024 finds Olive in Nashville, attempting to stabilize after a 3-year whirlwind of viral niche internet-fame, nonstop touring, and music industry naïveté. Olive’s social work background grounds them in community, a word they keep coming back to when ego proves unfulfilling. After attending Folk Alliance International for the last two years, Olive is excited to solidify themselves as a fixture of the greater folk community and return to what inspires them the most about music; the catharsis and social change that is possible when people come together and share themselves through song.
Breachway
Breachway is the musical project of Noah Barreto. Breachway has released several singles, including the most recent, “Ten Below”.
