THE SEA THE SEA (Chuck E. Costa and Mira Costa) is an Upstate New York based indie folk-pop duo featuring what Bob Boilen (NPR’s All Songs Considered) calls “excellent harmonies” & Huffington Post calls, “Two of the loveliest male-female voices you might ever hear this or any other year.” The group’s 2020 release, Stumbling Home, dubbed “otherworldly” by Rolling Stone marks the duo’s third full-length album, and the duo’s first primary recording / engineering credits on one of their albums, as well as that of co-producers—teaming up with recent Grammy and Tony award winner Todd Sickafoose (Hadestown, Anais Mitchell, Ani DiFranco, Andrew Bird).
Previous releases from The Sea The Sea—Love We Are We Love (2014), In the Altogether (2016 / EP), and From The Light (2018)—have been praised by outlets including NPR, American Songwriter, and No Depression, and the animated video for their song “Waiting” sparked viral interest from Buzzfeed and Pitchfork, as well as inclusion at the international TED 2015 conference. The band has garnered features across all music platforms including Apple Music “Best of the Week” and “A-List Singer/Songwriter,” gathering 20+ million streams on Spotify to-date. Live performance broadcast appearances of The Sea The Sea include Mountain Stage, whose host Larry Groce calls them “ready to take their place among the best young male/female duos now performing,” Audiotree, and Paste Music / Daytrotter—recently describing the band as “defined by their infallible vocal harmonies and their unconventional song arrangements. The Sea The Sea is a pop band only in their melodic infectiousness—otherwise they are at their best when subverting conventions.”
Ali Sperry is a Nashville-based independent artist. Her songs are undeniably rooted in folk music, simple and true, but she pushes the boundaries, toying with tones of modern indie-pop, rock, and old-school soul. She evokes stories of love – hearts broken and healing; the wistful burn of aspiration; and the universal quest for connection to self and others.
Ali was raised in Iowa to two musician parents who encouraged her to sing and create music from the time she could speak. Her childhood soundtrack was steeped in the music of the 60s and 70s: Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor. After attending Syracuse University and briefly moving to Chicago, Ali was recruited by an all-girl band in Nashville, TN called Sweetwater Rose.
Four years later in 2012, immersed in the growing alternative music scene in Nashville, she released her first solo record, Storybook, produced by Kyle Ryan and backed by a rotating tribe of musicians – friends, lovers, and roommates – who came to be known as The Family Vacation. In October 2014, she released her most recent project, an EP entitled Comes and Goes – produced by Scott Hardin, Jamie Dick and Ali, and mixed in Memphis, TN at Ardent Studios on a console well-used by Stax Records.
Avi Salloway is a musician, activist, and educator based in Vermont. He grew up learning music directly from American folk legends, Pete and John Seeger, and from an early age was exposed to the power of music to bring people together. Avi’s performed over 1500 concerts in 25 countries around the world and collaborated with renowned artists including Jack Johnson, The Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Bombino, David Longstreth (Dirty Projectors), The Low Anthem, and Pete Seeger.
Read Avi’s full bio.
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Noble Dust creates dynamic, lyrically-driven folk pop, blending ethereal vocal harmonies with intricate horn and string melodies. Since the release of their debut album ‘And The Tide Rises’ in 2018 funded by Club Passim’s Iguana Grant, they have shared stages big and small across the country (a sold-out Club Passim, Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, City Winery Boston MainStage, The Grey Eagle, The Royal Room, Folk Alliance International). They released their second LP ‘A Picture for a Frame’ recorded at Dimension Sound Studios with producer Dan Cardinal (Darlingside, The Ballroom Thieves) in August 2023 to critical acclaim from NPR and Bandcamp among others. The group is a 2023 New England Music Award Nominee for Americana Band of the Year, 2023 Falcon Ridge Grassy Hill Emerging Artist and received Club Passim’s inaugural Gecko Award for creative narrative works in 2023.
Ash & Eric have never shied away from life’s hard edges.
The married couple’s latest album Sure is “a tale of love… [with] some heartaches and a pinch of disputation along the way” (Americana UK). Hailing from the gritty heart of New England (Worcester, MA), the two are experts in discovering beauty in the challenges of life. Their musings reflect the hope and pain we all experience, sung in voices as vulnerable and honest as their lyrics. Their songs feel like a warm welcome, a shoulder to lean on and a hand to hold at the end of a long day. No Depression says their writing will leave listeners “…coming away from many of these [songs] cleansed,”.
Their warm harmonies, swirling acoustic guitars, and easy stage presence have earned them a dedicated following in the emerging US folk scene, performing with folk legends like Livingston Taylor, Vance Gilbert, Heather Maloney, and Mark Erelli. Their independent 9-song release, Sure, was recorded, mixed and produced by Eric at a boarding school in Western Massachusetts, and will be accompanied by a feature-length film, releasing June 2024.
Acadian powerhouse trio Vishtèn has been recognized worldwide as an ambassador of francophone culture. The Canadian band has dazzled audiences with its fiery blend of traditional French songs and original instrumentals that fuse Celtic and Acadian genres with a modern rock sensibilities and indie-folk influences.
With members hailing from Prince Edward Island’s Evangeline region and the most remote reaches of Québec – the windswept Magdalen Islands – twin sisters Emmanuelle and Pastelle LeBlanc join musical forces with Pascal Miousse to create a sophisticated sonic signature that combines tight vocal harmonies, layered foot percussion, and virtuoso acoustic instrumentation.Their trademark blend of fiddle, guitar, accordion, octave mandolin, whistles, piano, bodhrán, jaw harp and percussive dance result in a tour de force of traditional and contemporary music.
Performing and teaching extensively on three continents, the name Vishtèn is synonymous with Acadian music worldwide. The group has released five award-winning albums, the latest winner of the 2016 East Coast Music Award for Roots/Traditional Group Recording of the Year.
Joe and Matt have been playing and writing music together for a long time. As The Library Band, they combine stellar harmonies and multi-instrumental magic to ensure a pleasant reading experience.
Sam Amidon is a singer and multi-instrumentalist (banjo, guitar, fiddle) from Vermont, now based in London, England. He has released seven acclaimed solo albums of songs on Bedroom Community and Nonesuch Records, the most recent of which is 2020’s “Sam Amidon.” He will be releasing his new record Salt River in late January.
Amidon’s material for these albums often consists of adventurous reworkings of traditional American ballads, hymns and work songs, with the New York Times writing that Amidon “transforms all of the songs, changing their colors and loading them with trapdoors.” The albums have been deeply collaborative in nature, inviting contributions from musicians such as composer Nico Muhly, guitarist Bill Frisell, and legendary percussionist Milford Graves.
Sam Amidon has recorded or performed as a guest artist with musicians such as Bon Iver, Emmylou Harris, Tune-Yards, The National, John Prine, Jason Moran, and Amidon’s wife, Beth Orton. He has also appeared internationally as a soloist performing with ensembles such as the Kronos Quartet, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, The Aurora Orchestra, The Oregon Symphony and the Britten Sinfonia.
