Displaying items by tag: bluegrass
Big Richard
What began as an all-female festival collab quickly morphed into a serious passion project driven by sisterhood, harmony and humor...…along with the shared desire to rage fiddle tunes and smash the patriarchy. Big Richard is a neo-acoustic super group made up of well established Colorado musicians: Bonnie Sims on mandolin (Bonnie & Taylor Sims//Everybody Loves An Outlaw//Bonnie & the Clydes), Joy Adams on cello (Nathaniel Rateliff//Darol Anger//Half Pelican), Emma Rose on bass + guitar (Sound of Honey//Daniel Rodriguez//Whippoorwill) and Eve Panning on fiddle (Lonesome Days). The future of this group is big and rising fast.
AJ Lee & Blue Summit
AJ Lee and Blue Summit, a bluegrass band led by singer, songwriter, and mandolinist, AJ Lee, has been the darling of the North Bay, California bluegrass scene since their first appearance in Santa Cruz. Drawing from influences such as swing, folk, blues, jazz, country, soul, and rock, their undeniable talent and insatiable passion for bluegrass harks back to traditional classics while remaining uniquely modern. Over the years, Blue Summit's performed all around the country as well as in the UK, Ireland, and France. They've accrued many devout followers and distinctions including the Freshgrass 2019 Band Contest Winner, IBMA 2019 Momentum Vocalist of the Year, 2nd Place at the 2019 Winfield Guitar Competition, and numerous awards in Northern California. In 2019, AJ Lee and Blue Summit came out with their debut album, "Like I Used To," which consists entirely of AJ's original songs. Equipped with these new songs and their archive of nostalgic tunes, they'll continue playing to both familiar and new audiences, endearing themselves to the country and the world.
“Could This Kid Be the Next Allison Krauss?” Mother Jones magazine asked about AJ Lee — and for good reason. She has won the Northern California Bluegrass Society’s (NCBS) Best Female Vocalist award nine times - and she’s only twenty-one! Popular Webzine Californiality called AJ "California's Hottest Singer" because of her jaw-droppingly beautiful voice. AJ began singing and performing on stage at the astonishing age of five. By twelve, she began writing her own songs and showcasing them nation-wide. She has traveled with many bands, including “The Tuttles with AJ Lee,” which was featured at numerous festivals across the U.S. and beyond. She is a fantastic mandolinist and songwriter with a gorgeous voice. Ms. Lee is excited to share Blue Summit’s latest album consisting of all original material.
Jesse Fichman started playing guitar at the age of ten when he and his friends decided to form a bluegrass band. Since then, he has played in multiple bluegrass bands, multiple jazz combos, and a country band. When Jesse lends his rich voice to old, classic country songs audiences burst into applause. Jesse graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a degree in biology, and took a majority of the music classes offered there. He is a full time and original member of Blue Summit, and is studying and writing music on the side.
Sullivan Tuttle began playing guitar at age seven, learning quickly from his music teacher father, Jack Tuttle, with nightly home lessons and practice in the family band, the award-winning Tuttles with AJ Lee. By age ten Sullivan started to have an international following with a YouTube video of El Cumbanchero, which he played with his brother and sister (Michael and Molly Tuttle) - their video now has over 1.7 million views. Sullivan has developed a reputation for his rich, deep singing voice and astonishingly skillful guitar solos.
Chad Bowen was born and raised in Northwest Ohio and has been with Blue Summit since May 2018. A hardworking musician, Chad has been playing bass with numerous bands in the Bay area for almost 10 years. Music has always been a huge part of his life. Growing up he played piano, guitar, and sang in choirs. Eventually he gravitated to the double bass where he finds himself today smiling big, holding down the low end, singing sweet harmonies and sometimes singing lead on popular Grateful Dead tunes.
Missy Raines & Allegheny
GRAMMY® nominated Missy Raines was named 2020 International Bluegrass Music Association Bass Player of the Year, for the 9th time, more than any other bass player in the history of the organization. Missy Raines has proven herself without doubt as an iconic bluegrass instrumentalist. But with her newest release, Royal Traveller, Raines has stepped into the spotlight as a songwriter for the first time. The album digs deep into Raines' family life and her upbringing in West Virginia. Featuring previous and current members of her live band, as well as cameos from other bluegrass greats such as Stuart Duncan and Tim O'Brien, the album is a gorgeous look into the perspective, history, and musical influences of one of Nashville’s most beloved musicians, Missy Raines.
Royal Traveller was nominated for a GRAMMY® for “Best Bluegrass Album” and is Raines' third album for Compass Records. It’s the first produced by Compass' owner and founder, and renowned banjo player Alison Brown. "I went into this project with Alison with the mindset that I wanted to stretch myself and see what I could do. I think we achieved what I was looking for, which is something further reaching and bigger than what I would have accomplished on my own," says Raines.
In 1998, Raines became the first woman to win IBMA's Bass Player of the Year award and she went on to win the title repeatedly for the next several years. Royal Traveller highlights this particular piece of Raines' history with the stand out track “Swept Away”, which features the 5 first women to win IBMA instrumentalist awards, Raines, Brown, Sierra Hull, Becky Buller, and Molly Tuttle. “Swept Away” was named 2018 IBMA Recorded Event of the Year.
Missy’s version of the iconic Flatt & Scruggs “Darlin Pal(s) of Mine” (from Royal Traveller), was named 2019 Instrumental Recording of the Year by the IBMA. The tune features Alison Brown on banjo, Todd Phillips on bass and Mike Bub on bass.
In 2020, Missy shared IBMA’s Song of the Year award along with co-writers, Becky Buller and Alison Brown for “Chicago Barn Dance”, a song written specifically for the Chicago-based band, Special Concensus, and their latest album of the same name.
With her new album, Raines tells her story with a vulnerability and bold honesty that rings clear, spoken through beautiful arrangements and well chosen musical collaborations. With nods to many of the varied and challenging chapters of her life, the songs speak volumes of Raines tenacity and musicianship, and her ability to rise to bluegrass fame despite the various confinements of the times. The listener is presented with a striking window into the up and down ride of a very royal traveller, the one and only Missy Raines.
The Brothers Comatose
Whether traveling to gigs on horseback or by tour bus, Americana mavens The Brothers Comatose forge their own path with raucous West Coast renderings of traditional bluegrass, country and rock ‘n’ roll music. The five-piece string band is anything but a traditional acoustic outfit with their fierce musicianship and rowdy, rock concert-like shows.
The Brothers Comatose is comprised of brothers Ben Morrison (guitar, vocals) and Alex Morrison (banjo, vocals), Scott Padden (bass, vocals), Philip Brezina (violin), and Greg Fleischut (mandolin). When they’re not headlining The Fillmore for a sold-out show or appearing at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, the band is out on the road performing across America, Canada, Australia, and hosting their very own music festival, Comatopia, in the Sierra foothills.
April 2019 found the band touring Latvia and Lithuania as cultural ambassadors for American Music Abroad, which is run by the US State Department with the goal of sending American artists all over the world as a cultural exchange program. The band toured China in 2018 under the same program.
The remainder of 2019 the Brothers Comatose hit the studio to record on their fifth studio album to be released on AntiFragile Records. OFOAM favorites are back to make some more magic in 2022.
Town Mountain
Raw, soulful, and with plenty of swagger, Town Mountain has earned raves for their hard-driving sound, their in-house songwriting and the honky-tonk edge that permeates their exhilarating live performances, whether in a packed club or at a sold-out festival. The hearty base of Town Mountain's music is the first and second generation of bluegrass spiced with country, old school rock ‘n’ roll, and boogie-woogie. It's what else goes into the mix that brings it all to life both on stage and on record and reflects the group's wide-ranging influences – from the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia and the ethereal lyrics of Robert Hunter, to the honest, vintage country of Willie, Waylon, and Merle. The Bend Bulletin’s Brian McElhiney says Town Mountain, “has serious country and rock ’n’ roll DNA.” Town Mountain features guitarist and vocalist Robert Greer, banjoist Jesse Langlais, mandolinist Phil Barker, fiddler Bobby Britt, and Zach Smith on bass.
Town Mountain's latest album New Freedom Blues (October 2018) is their second consecutive album to debut in the top 10 on the Billboard Bluegrass Chart, and receive multiple worthy mentions by Rolling Stone, No Depression, and more. Full of new material and featuring several guest artists including Tyler Childers and Miles Miller (Sturgill Simpson, drummer), they prove they have staying power by regularly cranking out authentic hit albums. Which they intend on doing again when they go back into the studio this Spring (2021) to record their 6th full-length album of original material. The impression the band has made on fans is clear through their social media engagement, top-tier festival appearances, and Spotify streams (10+ million).
The Po' Ramblin' Boys
Every so often a band comes around that knocks everybody’s socks off and gets people talking. I’d bet good money that you’re gonna really enjoy them, but I don’t want to take your money. Use it to listen to the PRB. I‘m putting my money on them.
-Jim Lauderdale
At a time when most people feel constantly distracted by technology and barraged by the news, authenticity and straightforward honesty are paramount. There’s something about the music of The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys that cuts right through the noise of the world and speaks plainly to the soul. Formed in the Smoky Mountains, The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys are at once exactly what you would expect and not at all what you would expect from a tattooed East Tennessee Bluegrass outfit. No strangers to hard work, the boys are as much at home riding in their 1965 GM Tour bus as they are crawling underneath to fix it when it needs maintenance. But they take pride in being ambassadors of their genre, and the group has brought their music from rural bluegrass festival stages to the rock clubs of Europe, with stunning results. “I think to a certain extent everyone is just craving music that they can feel, and any music that feels real will reach any audience,” says CJ Lewandowski, the groups’ founder, “We want to put bluegrass right where it’s least expected”.
The Brothers Comatose
The next generation of American songsmiths from Haight-Ashbury, The Brothers Comatose weave storytelling with sharp wit and powerful melody making for unforgettable songs that come to life on stage where deft musicianship whips the crowd into a frenzy.
Whether traveling to gigs on horseback or by tour bus, Americana mavens The Brothers Comatose forge their own path with raucous West Coast renderings of traditional bluegrass, country and rock ‘n’ roll music. The five-piece string band is anything but a traditional acoustic outfit with their fierce musicianship and rowdy, rock concert-like shows. The Brothers Comatose is comprised of brothers Ben Morrison (guitar, vocals) and Alex Morrison (banjo, vocals), Scott Padden (bass, vocals), Philip Brezina (violin), and Greg Fleischut (mandolin).
Sierra Hull
In her first 25 years alone, singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Sierra Hull hit more milestones than many musicians accomplish in a lifetime. After making her Grand Ole Opry debut at the age of 10, the Tennessee-bred virtuoso mandolinist played Carnegie Hall at age 12, then landed a deal with Rounder Records just a year later. Now 28-years-old, Hull is set to deliver her fourth full- length for Rounder: an elegantly inventive and endlessly captivating album called 25 Trips.
Revealing her profound warmth as a storyteller, 25 Trips finds Hull shedding light on the beauty and chaos and sometimes sorrow of growing up and getting older. To that end, the album’s title nods to a particularly momentous year of her life, including her marriage to fellow bluegrass musician Justin Moses and the release of her widely acclaimed album Weighted Mind—a Béla Fleck- produced effort nominated for Best Folk Album at the 2017 Grammy Awards.
Moriah & Friends
Moriah & Friends are a group of current and graduated students from the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. With sounds ranging from bluegrass, old-time, and folk they are excited to share their musical span. The mix of vocal and acoustic harmonies matched with instrumental skill will captivate audiences.
Moriah Ozberkmen plays mandolin, fiddle, guitar and banjo. She is a Utah native currently working towards a degree in mandolin performance from Berklee College of Music. She has won the Utah State championships in three instrument categories and is an active board member involved with multiple non-profit organizations within the local music community. She enjoys teaching, recording and performing.
Alex Formento is a multi-instrumentalist based in Boston, MA. He is known for his smooth, innovative guitar playing and tasteful vocals. He has played at festivals and venues throughout the New England area as a member of the modern acoustic quartet, Pretty Saro. The group’s debut record, “Racing Back To You”, was released in 2019 through Nine Athens Music. He received his B.A. from the Berklee College of Music in 2020 where he majored in guitar performance.
John Mailander is an acclaimed multi-instrumentalist who moves listeners in concert halls, festivals, and music camps at home and abroad. A sought-after performer, teacher, producer, and recording artist, John is known for his deeply rooted voice on the fiddle, mandolin, and other stringed instruments. He has toured with bands including Bruce Hornsby & the Noisemakers, Billy Strings, Tony Trischka, Peter Rowan, Sierra Hull and many more.
Mile Twelve
Although their sound is rooted in traditional bluegrass, Mile Twelve surveys a broader landscape on their newest album, City on a Hill. All five band members bring their own influences and observations into the music, resulting in a project that feels contemporary, thoughtfully crafted, and relevant. Produced by Bryan Sutton and engineered by Ben Surratt, City on a Hill follows significant recognition from the bluegrass community, including three IBMA Momentum Awards. With members based in Boston and Nashville, the lineup includes David Benedict (mandolin), Catherine “BB” Bowness (banjo), Bronwyn Keith-Hynes (fiddle), Evan Murphy (acoustic guitar, lead vocals), and Nate Sabat (bass, lead vocals).
City on a Hill follows multiple IBMA Momentum Awards, presented by the International Bluegrass Music Association to emerging bluegrass artists. Mile Twelve won the band category in 2017, shortly before releasing their debut album, Onwards. The following year, Keith-Hynes and Benedict secured IBMA Momentum Awards in instrumental categories, while the band earned two major IBMA Award nominations for Emerging Artist and Instrumental Performance of the Year in 2018.