2017 SongFest Lineup
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The Wood Brothers
‘Paradise,’ an album about longing and desire and the ways in which the pursuit of fulfillment can keep it perpetually out of our reach, is The Wood Brothers’ most sophisticated work to date and also their most rocking, with bassist Chris Wood playing electric on tracks for the first time. Recorded at Dan Auerbach’s Easy Eye studio in Nashville, ‘Paradise’ captures the latest chapter in the ongoing evolution of a band—and a family—navigating the joy and challenges of a life in music.
Dubbed “masters of soulful folk” by Paste, The Wood Brothers released their debut studio album, ‘Ways Not To Lose,’ on Blue Note in 2006. You’d be forgiven at the time for expecting it to be something of a side project. Chris Wood already had legions of devoted fans for his incomparable work as one-third of Medeski Martin & Wood, while his brother Oliver toured with Tinsley Ellis before releasing a half-dozen albums with his band King Johnson. Almost a decade later and with drummer Jano Rix added as a permanent third member, it’s become quite clear that The Wood Brothers is indeed the main act. ‘Paradise’ follows the band’s acclaimed 2013 release ‘The Muse,’ which was recorded almost entirely live around a tree of microphones in Zac Brown’s Southern Ground studio. Hailed previously by the New York Times for their “gripping” vocals and by the LA Times for their “taught musicianship,” the live setting proved to be a remarkable showcase for the brothers’ live chemistry and charismatic magnetism. Taking a different approach to their sixth studio album, the decision to record in Nashville was no coincidence, as ‘Paradise’ marks the first album written with the entire band living in Music City. |
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Rising Appalachia
Rising Appalachia brings to the stage a collection of sounds, stories, and songs steeped in tradition and a devotion to world culture. Intertwining a deep reverence for folk music and a passion for justice, they have made it their life’s work to sing songs that speak to something ancient yet surging with relevance. Whether playing at Red Rocks or in rail cars, at Italian street fairs or to Bulgarian herbalists, this fiercely independent band has blazed a unique and colorful path across the globe. 11 years into their movement, Rising Appalachia believes that the roots of all these old songs are vital to our ever evolving soundscape.
Led by the collective voice of sisters Leah and Chloe, and joined by their beloved band – percussionist Biko Casini and bassist/guitarist David Brown – Rising Appalachia is a melting pot of folk music simplicity, textured songwriting, and those bloodline harmonies that only siblings can pull off. Listen for a tapestry of song, clawhammer banjo tunes, fiddle, double bass, acoustic guitar, djembe, barra, bodhran, spoken word, and a wealth of musical layering that will leave you called to action and lulled into rhythmic dance simultaneously. It is both genre bending and familiar at the same time. Proudly born and raised in the concrete jungle of Atlanta, Georgia, sharpening their instincts in the mountains of Appalachia, and fine tuning their soul on the streets of New Orleans they have crafted a 6-album career from the dusts of their passion. |
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Magic Giant
In 2016 MAGIC GIANT moved bodies and souls in over thirty cities across North America, touring with bands such as Mike Posner and Beats Antique and playing festivals ranging from Electric Forest to Lightning in a Bottle. Their latest single ‘Set On Fire’ has over 3 million streams and 350,000 video views. Since their self-release it charted #4 on Spotify’s US Viral 50 and #1 on KROQ’s Locals Only. The LA indie band has built a reputation for its infectious sing-alongs and communal live experiences, blending folk instruments (banjo, fiddle, harmonica) with big drums and dance rhythms. They recorded their debut album from their solar-powered mobile recording studio and are set to release it Spring of 2017.
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Fantastic Negrito2017 GRAMMY Award Winner for Best Contemporary Blues Album!
Fantastic Negrito is the incarnation of a musician who is reborn after going through a lot of awful shit. In fact, the name Fantastic Negrito represents his third rebirth, literally coming back from death this time. The narrative on this man is as important as the sound, because the narrative is the sound. Songs born from a long hard life channeled through black roots music. Slide guitar, drums, piano. Urgent, desperate, edgy. Fantastic Negrito is the story of a man who struggled to “make it”, who “got it”, and who lost it all. For anyone who ever felt like it was over yet hoped it wasn’t, this is your music; blues harnessed, forged in realness. For anyone who ever considered getting their old high-school band back together, this is your inspiration. These are singular songs by a true musician who writes and produces. They are his fuel as he embarks on the third comeback of his life. |
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Photo by Rubin Danny
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Kina Grannis
Kina's sophomore album – Elements – written entirely by Kina and produced by Matt Hales (Aqualung), marks an undeniable maturity in songwriting and artistry and documents a period of growth and change in Kina's personal life, complete with an honesty and a vulnerability that she's excited to share with her fans. The music is dark and driving, sweet and soaring, melancholy, humble, heartfelt and hopeful. Elements was released May 6, 2014 via Kina Grannis Records.
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Fuzz and Carrie of Caravan of Thieves
Gypsy Swinging Serenading Firebreathing Circus Freaks!
Driving gypsy jazz rhythms, acoustic guitars, upright bass and violin lay the foundation for mesmerizing vocal harmonies and fantastic stories. It's theatrical and humorous. It's musical and intense. It entertains, dazzles and defies classification while welcoming the spectator to join the band throughout the performance in momentary fits of claps, snaps and sing-alongs. If Django Reinhardt, the cast of Stomp and the Beatles all had a party at Tim Burton's house, Caravan of Thieves would be the band they hired. |
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Charlie Mars
The Money, the final volume in Charlie Mars’ Texas trilogy (out Oct. 14 on Rockingham Records/Thirty Tigers), opens with a scene of cinematic vividness. “Looking out a rainy window/In a hotel in Caroline/Drinking free coffee, smoking that smoke/From an apple by the exit sign.” He called the song “Hell Yeah,” a Rebel yell from this Oxford, Mississippi, resident not of celebration but of recognition. Maybe you, too, have found yourself far from home and feeling very alone, seeking relief in the substances at hand, exhaling out the open window as a practical measure. In those four lines, jotted down in a Hampton Inn in Greenwood, South Carolina, moments later, we find Mars (or a protagonist who closely resembles him) resuming his zigzagging trek through the darkness in search of the light. It’s a theme as old as The Odyssey, laid out in crisp contemporary verse over a lowdown, hickory-smoked backbeat, in the tradition of fellow Southern minimalists Tony Joe White and J.J. Cale.
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Chasing Lovely
Hi, we're Chloe and Taylor. We're sisters who live in Nashville, TN and spend most of our days with a guitar in hand. When we're not harmonizing or touring in our tiny Hyundai Accent, we're probably having random dance parties, reading Malcolm Gladwell, philosophizing about the world, dreaming of one day owning a self-sustaining EarthShip home, or on an endless quest for the world's best mac n' cheese. But all you really need to know is: we're a folk/rock/pop/soul duo (with obvious genre commitment issues), otherwise known as Chasing Lovely.
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Trevor Green
Spirited, deep, and thought provoking are just a few words to describe the artist known as Trevor Green. His music is something fresh and distinctly new, yet is deeply woven in the spiritual fabric of our ancient ancestors. Surrounded by 5 guitars, 3 didgeridoos, an array of percussion instruments and decorated of symbolic ancestral nature, Green's stage appears to be a musical playground not for the faint of heart. As a powerful advocate of Native American voice, he was adopted into a Navajo family and will often be graced by the power of Native American grass dancers who will take to the stage creating a mystical and captivating experience.
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Dan Rodriguez
Dan Rodriguez, an artist based out of Minneapolis, MN, is creating quite a buzz in the Midwest. The groove-based, bluesy over-toned sound of his music, mixed with his powerful, yet seductive voice creates an atmosphere different from other music. It's refreshing, tantalizing, and just plain good!
Originally from Detroit, MI, Dan moved to Minneapolis in 2004 to pursue music. He started a band with his brother, Andre Rodriguez, and called it The Auburns. They played locally for a couple of years and grew together as a band, as brothers, and as musicians. In January, 2008, Dan started a self-titled solo project in the Twin Cities. Promoting his band as a trio, Dan started playing venues in the local music scene. As things began to go well, a greater demand for Dan's music rose high enough to inspire him to record an album. June 13th, 2008, the album Unreal was released in Minneapolis, followed by a self-titled EP in 2011. His most recent album, Roaring Dan, was released in the Summer of 2013. Dan has since been playing locally and touring throughout the Midwest and beyond, and sharing the stage with national acts including Grammy award winning duo The Civil Wars, Pete Francis (Dispatch), NeedtoBreathe, Augustana, Tyrone Wells, John McLaughlin, Andy Grammer and Eric Hutchinson. In September 2014 Budweiser released their "Friends Are Waiting" commercial featuring Dan's performance of his original song "When You Come Home," which was written for the commercial and pitched through Minneapolis based company In The Groove Music. |
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Daphne WillisCollaborating across multiple genres ranging from Soul-Rock and Pop to Hip Hop and Electronic Dance Music, classifying Daphne Willis in musical terms is no easy task. With infectious melodies delivered with lyrical precision and honesty, the songs and performances of Daphne Willis are sincere, compelling and relevant.
Raised in Chicago and relocated now to Nashville, Willis cites influences as varied as Elvis Costello and Michael Jackson, but her musical output cleverly incorporates such inspirations into a style that is refreshing and contemporary in a way that suits her songs best. Daphne is currently a Pop writer at Sony/ATV and continues to release music and tour as an Indie Artist. |
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Victor And Penny
Victor & Penny deliver swing-infused folk-jazz in the band’s signature high-energy style with joy, humor, and soaring musical improvisation. Victor & Penny were named “Best Folk Ensemble 2015” by the PITCH; “Standout Concert of the Year” by the Joplin Globe; and are two-time Folk Alliance International official showcase artists. V&P feature tight vocal harmonies, dazzling guitar work, and a fiery ukulele. This corset-tight group brings a modern Kansas City voice to their original tunes and prohibition era jazz with sterling musicianship. When joined by their fine band, Loose Change Orchestra, the red-hot horn section and upright bass bring sparks a-plenty and virtuosic musicianship. V&P impress and delight with charm and hot licks and they are an “absolute rollicking blast.” Since 2010, Victor & Penny (aka Jeff Freling and Erin McGrane) have been thrilling audiences nationally with their deft blend of originals, hot jazz, and swing.
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Photo: Jon H Norris
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Kristin DiableKristin Diable has been exploring freedom and choice in her music ever since she picked up an open mic at a lounge in Baton Rouge and stunned the audience into silence. She rode that vibe, away to New York and then back to her native Louisiana like a storm front, one that shook New Orleans and cooled the air. And her newest album, Create Your Own Mythology, invokes her Louisiana and Americana roots, while firing a rock-and-roll shot across the bow of borrowed myths.
“Diable’s bluesy rock gets Nashville glitz on this tambourine-bolstered barn-burner that rolls in like a summer storm and blooms like Southern magnolia.” – NPR on “Time Will Wait |
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Joe CravenAward winning creativity educator, former museum curator, actor, festival emcee, Director of RiverTunes Music Camp, a Co-Director of the Wintergrass Youth Academy and proud father, Joe Craven’s love of music making has put him in many musical genres and alongside many musicians over the years, from Jerry Garcia, Yo-Yo Ma, David Lindley, Jason Marsalis and Roy Rogers to his fabulous Joe Craven Trio and other groups such as Alison Brown’s Quartet, The Persuasions, Psychograss, The Horseflies and the list goes on. For 17 years, he was percussionist/violinist with mandolinist David Grisman.
Whether presenting a workshop or lecture in a Costa Rican community, to business executives in Contra Costa, CA, or thousands of school kids in Scotland ~ to performing at house concerts, major music festivals, the stage of Carnegie Hall or a street corner at Cannery Row, Joe’s at home and loving every minute. “Joe Craven is Magical.” ~ San Francisco Chronicle |
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Davin McCoy
Pain, suffering, and loss…
three elements baked deeply into the fabric of love, or rather, a true love lost. These are the things of which the greatest artists of all time have feasted, in through their uniquely experienced and engineered pores, and out to the world après time served within the walls of the artist’s hearts and minds. Such are the autobiographical, painstaking roads traveled by Davin McCoy’s eloquently crafted, individually wrapped soulful pieces of art, his songs, tied together, so ever tightly, by a grief stricken fueled common thread, by cigarette stained fingers avec a not yet finished quarter left high ball. A personal compilation of emotions wrapped with and by a heart-wrenching bow known as McCoy’s sophomore effort Whiskey Sexy. |
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Photo by Natalie Ginele Miller
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Birds of Chicago
Birds of Chicago was born in 2012 when Nero began writing for his vocal star-muse, Russell. Both were accomplished singer/songwriters with projects of their own, Nero with JT and the Clouds and Russell with the acclaimed Canadian roots outfit Po’ Girl, but together there was an unmistakable chemistry. Nero had found the perfect voice for his rock and roll psalms. Russell moved from being a primary songwriter to an interpreter, and her simmering restraint is deeply refreshing to a landscape scorched by post Voice/American Idol vocal gymnastics and over-emoting.
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Shane Koyczan
“Shane Koyczan is at the heart of a Category Five creative hurricane”
–The Vancouver Sun A Canadian spoken word poet, writer, and member of the group Tons of Fun University. He is known for writing about issues like bullying, cancer, death, and eating disorders. In February 2013 Koyczan released an animated video of his spoken word poem "To This Day" on YouTube and at the TED Conference. The poem focused on the subject of bullying that Koyczan and others had received during their life and its lasting effects. "To This Day" went viral shortly after its release,with the video receiving over 20 million views as of January 2017, prompting many viewers to send Koyczan letters thanking him for publishing the poem. |
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The Accidentals
Billboard's Breakout Band at SXSW 2015; Winner of the Emerging Artist Series, US Cellular Stage at Summerfest WI, 2015; Winner of WYCE's Album of the Year 2015; Best New Artist 2015; Art Prize, St. Cecilia Listeners Choice winner for the song The Silence 2015, Red Hot Best Band MyNorth Magazine three years in a row... THIS is the band to watch.
Described as, "one of the most ground-breaking musical experiences one might just have in a lifetime” by Jonathan Frahm at Yahoo Voices, The Accidentals are just getting started. |
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Emily Kopp
With music dubbed a marriage between "bluesy heartache vocals and pop songwriting smarts" (The Advocate), Emily Kopp has cultivated a career uniquely her own. Her musical beginnings sparked at a young age, developing throughout her teenage years when she learned to play alongside others, exploring the drums, guitar, and singing, as a pioneer in her high schools' rock band. This continued through college, as she booked herself cover gigs around town. Soon enough, Kopp had earned an internship at a local music venue, working in the office by day and providing hospitality for National touring artists by night. Much of her tenacity and knowledge about the music industry developed while cutting her teeth behind the scenes. However, it didn't take long before she was in the forefront herself, writing songs, deciding to pursue music full time.
She began touring the Southeast during her Junior year of college, and by graduation in December 2013, Kopp had laid herself a foundation as a full time touring artist. She has shared stages with Matchbox 20, Brandi Carlile, Marc Cohn, Phillip Phillips, Kenny Loggins, Boyce Avenue, The Gin Blossoms, and later had the honor of presenting at the TEDxGreenville conference (2015). Kopp has released a full length record, “Serendipity Find Me” (2013), which was followed by her sophomore EP, “Making Sense Of” in 2015. Later that year, she launched a new project, Midnight Riot, alongside writing partner/producer Justin Beckler. The two have since landed songs in commercials for: JetBlue, FitBit, Honey Bunches of Oats, Mary Kay, Samsung, Two Men and A Truck, VistaPrint, and more. In an ever changing music industry climate, Kopp has managed to carve out a space all her own, continuing to grow as a performer, entrepreneur, and songwriter, continuing to evolve, and connect with her audience. |
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The Mulligan Brothers
Armed with a violin, acoustic guitar, drums and an upright bass fashioned from two old suitcases, the Mulligan Brothers, a quartet from Mobile, Ala., stand dead center at the crossroads generally defined as Americana. Folk, country and blues all factor into the sound, as Ross Newell’s nuanced, radio-ready voice brings the band’s story-songs to vivid life.”
- Keith Spera | The Times-Picayune |
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Joshua Reilly
Illinois born and Florida bound, this guitarist and singer-songwriter's tunes give an intelligent, if not clever, reverence to topics ranging from the "everyman's" blue-collar struggles to the more unique corners of life, all through a lens that audiences continue to find both refreshing and familiar. Reilly's first studio release is slated for spring/summer 2017 on Ybor City Records.
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Alex Wald of I Heart Cats
Alex Wald is a near life-long Pinellas County resident. He has been writing songs for more than 30 years and has been performing in the area nearly as long. Alex fronts the I Heart Cats Band, a popular local act that blends original music with eclectic covers. Many of his songs reference nature and the ocean, where he loves to spend time on his sailboat.
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Tim Hutchinson
Tim Hutchinson draws his soulful sound from the well of his life experiences and connects with this audience in a very human way. His songs are filled with truth; his performance’s captivating and sincere.
Tim’s creativity is steeped in a hard working man's blues. In his 20s, he worked as a carpenter in Northeast Ohio. “I used to have to leave Ohio and go work in Michigan for weeks. It was during that time I decided to follow my passion and began playing music to be closer to my young family.” Tim tells this story in one of his songs “Michigan” which was recently nominated for the best music video award at the Long Island International Film Expo. Tim Hutchinson was born Timothy K.C. Fayne Hutchinson on July 2, 1974. “Playing music just feels natural. I grew up with music. My dad is a bluegrass banjo player and his bands were always rehearsing at our house as I was growing up.” It wasn’t long before Tim discovered another world of music, “I can remember the very first time I heard Rock and Roll. I was nine years old and the neighbor was washing his T-top white Trans-Am and blasting 'Hot Blooded' by Foreigner one summer morning, and I've never been the same." |
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Urban Gypsies of Florida
Urban Gypsies Of Florida's exhilarating improvisational style produces captivating performances.
Their distinctive mostly original styling’s create crazy fun times and continually surprise and delight the listener with innovative combinations of Tribal, Disco, Gypsy, Bluegrass, 70’s Rock, Folk, and Funk. Urban Gypsies Of Florida’s smoothly blended harmonies, exciting primal rhythms, and organic bling like textures personify joyous crazy fun times. If you enjoy Rusted Root, Bill Monroe, Bob Marley, Pink Floyd, CSNY, Grateful Dead, John Prine and Harry Belafonte you will connect with their music. |
