Internationally acclaimed Artist-Songwriter David G Smith is an acoustic roots solo performer with a lyric-intensive style featuring guitars, resonator, music and a voice that range from dirt-funk to intimate. His music is a blend of Folk, Americana, Country & Blues. David was recently accepted as a Juried Artist by Noel Paul Stookey (Peter, Paul & Mary) Music-To-Life org. He is a 2008 International Song Competition 1st Place Winner, a Robert Oermann DISCovery award recipient, and two-time ISC Semifinalist. He performs at the prestigious Bluebird Cafe/Nashville where his shows are regularly sold out. David has released 11 albums and Mary Gauthier and Keb Mo make appearances on 4 of them to include a duet with Mary called “Shine”. He has three nationwide #1 singles and four nationwide #1 albums to include his latest release, Witness Trees, on the Roots Music Report (RMR) Folk & Alt-Folk Charts. His single “River Gonna Talk”,was a nationwide 2023 #1 add on the NACC chart and reached #1 in the nation on Radio Guitar One’s Top 30 Americana Chart. David has been featured in American Songwriter and his songs have appeared on TNT, Lifetime Network, Travel Channel , several PBS affiliates shows and he has a string of indie & major-indie song-cuts. His last 4 albums have been accepted for Grammy consideration. His Give-Back Series donates time and raises money and awareness for a variety of charitable causes. David, his voice and his songs are authentic.
“I have walked beside David G Smith for many, many years, and I am in awe of his body of work.” —Mary Gauthier
Jennifer O’Connor is a musician, songwriter and producer from Nyack, New York. She has released a total of 7 albums, a few EPs and multiple singles since her self-titled debut in 2002 via her own Kiam Records imprint as well as with Matador Records and Red Panda Records. She has been called “a songwriter’s songwriter whose albums are master classes in economy and clarity” by Paste Magazine and her songs, “near perfect” by The New Yorker. O’Connor has written original music for as well as had songs from her albums featured in dozens of television shows and films including The Handmaid’s Tale, The Good Fight, Orange Is The New Black, Sons of Anarchy, Queer as Folk and more. She has toured the US extensively and shared stages with Neko Case, Wilco, Silver Jews, Cass McCombs and many others. Jennifer’s most recent album, Born At The Disco, was listed among Forbes’ most notable albums of 2021.
Jarsch is an Allston, MA based creature who plays instruments. She likes to be sincere. She sings into your ears.
If you’re singing along to a song you don’t know, and suddenly feeling 10 years younger – you’re probably at a Taylor Abrahamse concert. Like a maple leaf in a gust above the Ontario prairies, Taylor floats blissfully between the borders of song, gender & genre with his/her deftly crafted, hook-laden hammerclaw pop. A Paul Simon/Jim Carrey crossbreed, he’ll leave you laughing, touched, and even singing along – if you can reach that high.
Starting as a five-year-old Elvis impersonator at county fairs, at age 6, Taylor vowed to never ‘grow up’ in the typical sense, and to always hold onto a sense of play. At 11, he began songwriting, inspired by listening to CDs in the dark by artists such as like Elton John and Queen, while his imagination painted transcendental music videos in his head. At sixteen, he was a finalist on Canadian Idol, and was regularly playing across Ontario.
Fresh from a 2024 Home Routes house concert tour, Taylor is also a 2021 Kerrville Newfolk winner, Canadian Idol & Mariposa finalist, and co-founder of Silverthorn Studios, a much-loved Toronto recording studio which is hopeful to re-open in partnership with venue Hugh’s Room Live. He produced & mixed his 2020 Factor/TAC supported debut album in partnership with the great Eddie Kramer (Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, KISS, etc). Along with four singles, acclaimed self-directed & produced music videos, airplay across Canada and a Deluxe Edition released in 2021, it’s release sparked a chance to open for multi-Juno-winner Hawksley Workman (one of Taylor’s childhood music heroes!), and a US & Canada tour. Her newest release, ‘Live In Lockdown Vol 1’, was one of many projects Taylor wrote & recorded during a tumultuous farewell to the original Silverthorn Studios space. During its final five weeks, he managed to track versions of over 120 original songs, with frequent musical guests – and often livestreamed. His upcoming project, made possible in part by the Ontario Arts Council, will make use of some of these recordings.
It’s always been about the music for Kyle Hancharick, a singer/songwriter from Warwick, New York. His passionate performances are punctuated by a crisp acoustic guitar and soaring tenor vocals. This is best shown in his 2018 EP “Breathe,” a four song project consisting only of acoustic guitar, bass and vocals. And that’s all that’s needed for this artist whose roots are planted in contemporary folk music.
Kyle has begun to make a name for himself in the folk music circle. He has performed on the Emerging Artists Showcase at the 2018 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, and he has opened shows for the likes of Ellis Paul, Jay Ungar and Molly Mason, Lucy Kaplansky, and Red Molly. His upbeat love song, “How You Say Goodbye” was covered by Ellis Paul for his 2019 album “The Storyteller’s Suitcase.”
Most recently, Kyle has begun work on his second full-length studio album, which is set to be released in 2023.
Kyle takes in the world, processes it and turns it into song with his own special touch. He has a unique take on things, a view of the world others may not necessarily notice. He continues to grow as an artist, sharing his story and messages of love and peace.
Above all, though, it’s still about the music.
It’s always been about the music for Kyle Hancharick, a singer/songwriter from Warwick, New York. His passionate performances are punctuated by a crisp acoustic guitar and soaring tenor vocals. This is best shown in his 2018 EP “Breathe,” a four song project consisting only of acoustic guitar, bass and vocals. And that’s all that’s needed for this artist whose roots are planted in contemporary folk music.
Kyle has begun to make a name for himself in the folk music circle. He has performed on the Emerging Artists Showcase at the 2018 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, and he has opened shows for the likes of Ellis Paul, Jay Ungar and Molly Mason, Lucy Kaplansky, and Red Molly. His upbeat love song, “How You Say Goodbye” was covered by Ellis Paul for his 2019 album “The Storyteller’s Suitcase.”
Most recently, Kyle has begun work on his second full-length studio album, which is set to be released in 2023.
Kyle takes in the world, processes it and turns it into song with his own special touch. He has a unique take on things, a view of the world others may not necessarily notice. He continues to grow as an artist, sharing his story and messages of love and peace.
Above all, though, it’s still about the music.
Gemma Laurence is a Brooklyn-based indie folk singer-songwriter from the coast of Maine. Categorizing herself as “Sapphic folk,” Laurence has been named an “up-and-comer” in the queer music scene by NPR Music and starred on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Having grown up on the coast of Maine and the hills of Oxfordshire, Laurence’s time on both sides of the Atlantic influenced her unique sound: a fusion of foot-stomping Americana with a hint of English folk. Crafting a lush soundscape of rich acoustic textures, dreamy harmonies, and found sounds, Laurence’s timeless tracks call her listeners home to the people and places left behind for new beginnings. Her album Lavender is out now on Better Company Records.
Anna Ferrari writes from the heart about love, loss, growing up and the queer experience. The 26-year-old songwriter lives in Boston and her sound veers towards indie-folk with a pinch of twang. She seeks to form connections through the experience of sharing and listening to music and hopes you feel a piece of your story in her lyrics.
Will Orchard is a Nashville-via-New England based indie-folk artist. He has made a name for himself as both a deeply emotive and disarming songwriter, and a relentless DIY troubadour. His music has taken him on tour around the US and Europe more times than he can count, with his partner & fellow songwriter Jess Kerber. His records have been described as “Hush Folk Luminosity” by Glide Magazine, and “Damn Good Music” by PopNews. In 2025, he looks ahead to an LP release and an abundance of tour dates.
Not long after crossing beyond the neon into Al’s Tavern, one might catch murmurs drifting up and down the bar during Dean Johnson’s bartending shifts – nudges and whispers that he might just be the best songwriter in town. “Wait ’til you hear him sing. Just don’t ask him to do it, because he won’t. He might do another show this year, but probably not.” Al’s regulars, howsoever biased, speak of his talent like a family secret – Seattle folklore. How many times, and for how many years, has Dean elusively replied to some variation of the question, “When will there be a record?”
The phrase “hidden gem” would seem appropriate here, but it’s a misnomer when talking about Dean Johnson. He shines bright, in plain sight, and it was only a matter of time before people stopped to take a look. Dean’s gentle and passionate approach to songwriting has inspired many, and his work provides the listener the opportunity to believe once more that a song can be more than the sum of its parts. If you catch even a phrase of his melodies or the sobering tone of his voice, it waltzes its way into your heart like a letter written, signed, sealed and delivered just for you.
His debut album Nothing for Me, Please was recorded at Mashed Potato Records in New Orleans with the help of Sam Gelband and Charlie Meyer, Dean’s bandmates in The Sons of Rainier; as well as Mashed Potato regulars Sam Doores, Duff Thompson and Steph Green. The record is a hazy, relaxed daydream – anthems for those who know the sweetness and coldness of quiet moments, the power and the pain of love. Whether you’ve been waiting patiently these many for Dean to release these songs, or you’re just now coming across his work for the first time, the name Dean Johnson, much like his songs, won’t soon leave your mind.
