Nels Andrews was born near some water, and then, for a long time lived in a desert near some chile peppers. In between he planted trees. Then he was in a tall city. Now he’s back near the sea. He likes the way stories sound when they’re sung.

Acoustic roots songwriting duo Sparrow Blue from Massachusetts released their first full length album Rabbit in the Moon in 2018, featuring fiddle, guitars, mandolin, banjo, harmonica and vocal harmony throughout. Rabbit in the Moon blends folk, country, bluegrass and old-time influences together with crafted songwriting to paint a musical picture of times gone by, hope, hard times, and new beginnings.

Rabbit in the Moon, which was self-produced and independently released, culminates two years of songwriting and represents the duo’s strongest work to date. Rabbit in the Moon reached #1 on the Roots Music Report (RMR) and #8 on the Folk DJ Album Charts in 2018.

Sparrow Blue (Katy Boc and Todd Nickerson) met in 2014 and began writing songs together after discovering a mutual love for American roots music. Since then, they released an EP in 2015 – Mabel, which was called “lilting, dark, and spellbindingly catchy”, released Rabbit in the Moon in 2018, got hitched in the backyard, parented as many kids as you have fingers on your right hand, and featured at folk venues, concert halls, listening rooms, and house concerts throughout New England and beyond.

When not performing, making a living, or spending time with their family, they volunteer at the South Shore Folk Music Club, with the mission of keeping folk music alive and well on the south shore of Massachusetts.

They say home is where the heart is, and for family band Rosemere Road that statement rings particularly true. Sisters Carson and Emmery Brakke grew up in suburban Rhode Island just down the road from their cousin Kara McKee, all singing folk songs in their parents’ living rooms from as early on as they can remember.

It wasn’t until 2016, however, when the girls found themselves once again down the road from each other, this time in Boston, that they had the idea to try their hand at making their own music together. Needless to say, it was a natural fit. With influences ranging from Tori Amos to Emmylou Harris to The Shirelles, Rosemere Road brings an edgy depth to their traditional folk sound. While their songs sometimes deviate from the traditional folk trio style, their message resonates with the genre: telling stories of lost love and hard times, with just the right combination of sorrow and optimism, and the knowledge that singing in three part harmony is a lot more fun when you do it with people you love.

Rachel Marie follows in a tradition of unapologetically forthright women folksingers, with songs that hearken to “overstuffed lines of Tori Amos, philosophical turn of Indigo Girls, and lilting vocals like Joni Mitchell.”

The social awareness of folk meets the introspection of the singer-songwriter tradition with a moderate dose of snark. An endearingly quirky stage presence as honest as her songs keeps audiences charmed. Boston-based and Pennsylvania-raised, Rachel has shared stages with Cheryl Wheeler, Antje Duvekot, Michelle Lewis, Grace Morrison, and the Kennedys. Her November 2018 single “Looking for Light” was featured on an officially curated Spotify playlist the week of its release.

Tom Russell’s latest recording of original compositions, October in the Railroad Earth, is set for CD and vinyl release March 15, 2019, on Frontera Records in North America and Proper Records for the rest of the world. He describes the songs and sound as “Jack Kerouac meets Johnny Cash in Bakersfield.”

Bill Kirchen is featured on lead electric guitar, Eliza Gilkyson adds vocals, and the Grammy® Award-winning Texmaniacs appear on “Isadore Gonzalez,” about a Mexican cowboy who died in England during a performance of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. The record contains nine other originals, including the title song from the Irish film Small Engine Repair, and a cover of the traditional “Wreck of the Old 97.”

October in the Railroad Earth follows the acclaimed 2017 Frontera/Proper album Folk Hotel and Russell’s tribute to Ian & Sylvia on True North Records, Play One More, both receiving worldwide acclaim. Between major releases in 2018, Russell recorded the Bruce Springsteen track “Across The Border” for the three-disc Appleseed Records anniversary sampler, Roots and Branches, and issued a re-recording of early classics on Frontera, Old Songs Yet To Sing.

One of Russell’s previous albums of new original material was the 2015 “folk opera” that Thom Jurek of allmusic.com hailed as Tom’s masterpiece, The Rose of Roscrae. Named “The top folk album of 2015” by Mojo magazine, Roscrae was also lauded as “maybe the most important Americana record of all time” by UK Folk. The album was included in top ten lists of dozens of publications, including the Los Angeles Times.

As a native New Englander, Ric has spent half his life as an acoustic musician, artist, and educator. Since writing his first song in 2014, he has performed as a finalist in two national performing songwriter competitions and the 2018 CT Folk Festival auditions.

His noteworthy features include the Club Passim Tribute to Emmylou Harris, Club Passim 2018 Memorial Day Campfire Festival, Spire Center of Performing Arts opening for Ray Wylie Hubbard, South Shore Folk Music Club opening for Susan Cattaneo, Amazing Things Arts Center opening for Archie Fisher, and the Rose Garden Coffeehouse opening for Abbie Gardner. Ric actively performs across southeastern New England at markets, galleries, eateries, wine bars, and coffeehouses.

In January 2018, he released his debut CD Take It All In which has found airplay on radio and podcasts in the Northeast US and as far away as Scotland and the UK. This collection of eight originals and one cover by friend Joe L’Esperance feels personal and intuitively familiar, delivered with an ease that holds the listener as steady as a mast. Ric’s writing aims to pay gratitude, allay fear and doubt, and reveal the quiet hope that lives behind our challenges. Contributors include violinist Katy Boc of Sparrow Blue, singer/instrumentalist Raianne Richards, drummer Jeff Armstrong, and San Antonio guitarist Bob Charles.