Archives: Artist

In this increasingly virtual world of ours, what makes music authentic? For some, songs are no more than tiny sentimental decompressions. But others treat music as an extension of their roots, a mirror of their travels and relationships, and a testament to both their craft and passion.

For The Ballroom Thieves, the band’s journey has only just begun, but their roots already run quite deep. Now, on A Wolf in the Doorway the Thieves find themselves taking the very idea of “roots” and creating ways to make its associated sound progress, while making its encompassing spirit glow.

Stylistically, the trio finds a captivating mélange of acoustic styles, blending folk conventions with modern hymnals, delta blues grit with rich harmonies, exploring the basic constructions of pop music while almost wholeheartedly rejecting its restrictions at the same time.

“Our own personal growth and explorations in songwriting and musicianship caused us to end up in this unique spot where we can generally feel free to be who we are at all times, which is sadly not a luxury enjoyed by all,” says guitarist Martin Earley. “I think we have a certain sound at the moment, but that sound is constantly evolving, and I hope it keeps doing that.”

Perhaps it is a blessing, but the band has a certain awareness and interest in all of its surroundings that equates to a form of musical intelligence. See them live and this becomes tremendously clear. They are a product of their community. They wager it all with every song and every performance. They study those with whom they share the stage. They feed off of the spirit of their audience. They grow from each other.

“This was a huge transition year for us in that regard and I think we are stronger than ever,” says percussionist Devin Mauch. “When money is tough, the road is snow covered, ticket sales aren’t ideal, food is repetitive, or relationships back home are struggling, that’s when you have to be able to turn to your two bandmates and relate to one another on a higher level than others can really understand. We’ve become a pretty solid and supportive unit, so I think we’ve armed ourselves to take on just about anything.”

A year of transition it was, but with new challenges came fresh inspiration. Cellist Calin Peters joined the band in September of 2013, after Mauch and Earley had been playing with a different cellist for almost two years. Peters’ immersion into the Thieves was almost freakishly natural, with the band soon after discovering ways to add additional brawn to their sound. For Earley, this meant falling slightly in love with an old Gretsch hollow body and spending countless hours studying its sound, experimenting with different ways to make it sing. For Peters, transitioning into a vocalist was a baptism by fire, but as a performer, the ultimate growing experience.

“I was terrified to try singing lead, although I always loved creating harmonies,” she says. “For a while, even knowing I’d have to sing alone into a mic during soundcheck sent me into a day long panic about that one short, unimportant moment. But the most frustrating and challenging times for this band are also the most rewarding.”

The band is now equipped with twelve new originals that make up their first full-length album, A Wolf in the Doorway. The work as a whole reflects the new dynamic, and the excitement that managed to pull all of these songs together in a matter of months.

Harmonies take shotgun on the record, lending splendid crescendos to songs like “Saint Monica” and “Lantern,” raising them from a rather subdued nature and enriching their lyrical sentiments. Peters’ lead vocals on “Bury Me Smiling” are a standout on the album, stirring in fragile melodies and a change of pace to the record. Earley’s lead vocals at times climax to throaty wails on more gravelly tunes like “Oars to the Sea” or the final track, “Wolf.” And the backbone for such experimentation comes from the distinct percussion work of Mauch, who continually seeks to expand the repertoire of sounds from what little of a setup he brings on the road.

“It bears mentioning that Dev invented his particular style of drumming in his college days and, just as you might expect, that kind of thing comes with somewhat of a learning curve,” says Thieves co-founder Earley. “He’s constantly exploring the limits of what he can do with his setup and adding to it in the process, and that creative energy definitely contributed to the path we’re on.”

It brings to mind the early days of The Ballroom Thieves, which really weren’t all that long ago. Limited to just a dorm room, an acoustic guitar, and a djembe, Earley and Mauch first began making music together in 2010 while attending college just south of Boston. The minimalism of these early jam sessions continues to permeate in the purity of the band’s recent music, while songwriting has only grown in complexity.

But the content of these songs isn’t just a product of “practice makes perfect.” All three of the Thieves are quick to point out that the foundation of their latest work is a reflection of their travels, their interactions, and their time on the road. The band has shared the stage with bands like The Lone Bellow, Houndmouth, and fellow New Englanders Dispatch over the last couple of years. Playing in front of six and playing in front of six hundred both happen with regularity, presenting their own sets of challenges and rewards. Of course, one of the greatest takeaways is the shared experience with any audience, and the creative fuel that it continues to produce.

“The experiences we have with friends, fans, and strangers when we perform is what keeps me wanting to explore this art form further and discover all that it has to offer,” says Earley. “Simple human connection is a beautiful thing and I’m very grateful to be playing music that allows me to experience such feelings on a regular basis.”

For The Ballroom Thieves, this family tree has only just begun to bloom, but its roots give the trio a strong and solid structure from which to continue to build. A Wolf in the Doorway documents this growth in the most authentic way, sending any listener off with a heavier heart and a purer soul than when they arrived.

It’s been quite the rollercoaster ride, but the eight members of Austin’s critically acclaimed soul collective Mingo Fishtrap have found their sweet spot. Now four albums deep, the eight piece outfit has honed its sound, rubbed shoulders with musical idols, and delivered powerhouse live shows to crowds of thousands in the years since the band’s inception in a tiny dorm room in Denton, Texas. “We’ve experienced a lot of milestones and challenges in our lives together,” says founder Roger Blevins, Jr. “It’s easy to reminisce, even about moments that have just happened, but you reach a place in your life where you finally feel comfortable that that’s where you’re supposed to be.”

Mingo’s fourth full-length record, the aptly-named On Time blends punchy horns and gritty Memphis grooves with N’awlins funk to create sounds steeped in both modern pop and sixties soul sensibilities, that transcend both era and genre. “My first love is classic sixties soul, funk, and Motown,” says Roger. As the band has grown, this early love affair has become a bigger part of Mingo’s musical landscape. “There was a time early on when we were really into these crazy, bombastic arrangements,” he explains. “Now it’s more the song, the groove and the overall feel.”

Memphis Grease, the long-awaited follow up to Németh’s fourth solo studio release, 2010’s Name The Day!, embodies everything that sets this artist apart from the revivalist pack: it’s innovative and unique while epitomizing the absolute best of the genre. It’s a deeply forged amalgamation of scorching harmonica-driven blues and sweet blue-eyed soul ala the Box Tops or Roy Head, delivered via two fistfuls of originals and a trio of carefully chosen covers, including Roy Orbison’s “Crying,” reinvented here as a slow burning soul number that matches anything that came out of circa-late 1960s’ Muscle Shoals.

The album title itself is evocative of Németh’s journey to Memphis. The soul-blues scene he fell into in the Bay Area is historically referred to as “Oakland Grease,” and a pair of Oakland’s “greasiest” artists, guitarist Lowell Fulson and pianist Jimmy McCracklin, journeyed south to record two of their best, if often overlooked albums: Fulson’s funky psych-blues In A Heavy Bag and McCracklin’s soulful High on the Blues. For Németh, Memphis Grease is a natural concept that marries the techniques he honed in the Bay with the intuitiveness that flows between him and the Bo-Keys.

“When it comes to more traditional styles of music, people expect to hear a tribute record. But you can get into a real rut if you’re just doing rewrites,” Németh says. “We’re creating fresh music here. Our arrangements sound just like they would back then, but what we’re doing is so much more innovative.”

With the inter-generational combination of drummer Howard Grimes, guitarist Joe Restivo, Al Gamble on keyboards, producer Scott Bomar on bass, venerable soul vocalist Percy Wiggins singing background, and a killer horn section featuring Marc Franklin, Kirk Smothers, and Art Edmaisten, it’s a collaboration that sounds completely effortless. Together, Németh and the Bo-Keys take modern soul from a simmer to a full boil.

Guy Forsyth is an American Texas blues and blues rock singer, guitarist, harmonicist and songwriter, and to date has released 9 albums. He regularly tours both in the United States and Europe, and has opened for Ray Charles, Robert Cray, Dr. John, B.B. King,
Jimmie Vaughan, and Lucinda Williams.

Forsyth’s repertoire, which is primarily blues in format, also incorporates traces of rock, R&B, folk, jazz and pop. As a songwriter, many of his albums contain his own work and songs he co-composed with other local musicians. Forsyth has won several Austin Music Awards, including one for “best male vocalist” in 2005.

Produced by Matt Smith and recorded at the Lost Oasis Studio in Austin, Texas, The Freedom to Fail finds Forsyth handling a wide array of stringed instruments both contemporary and traditional, including the banjo, mandolin, baritone guitar, and harp guitar.

In 1978, just months after arriving in the big city, Forbert signed his first record deal withCBS Records. His debut album, Alive On Arrival, showcased his distinctive musicalityand became one of the year’s most acclaimed albums. After being compared to folk based
stars like Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan, Forbert still managed to forge his own, more modern path with his hit sophomore record Jackrabbit Slim. The highlight of the album was the #11 Billboard hit “Romeo’s Tune”: an upbeat song with timeless lyrics
sweetened by a poetic sensibility, which has since become Steve’s signature style. Thirty-plus years later, he’s still writing acclaimed songs and has released 14 studio albums, including a Grammy-nominated tribute to another Mississippi legend, Jimmie
Rodgers.

Over With You, Steve Forbert’s first studio album in three years, is a focused song cycle featuring an earnest account of the often-mixed emotions involved in personal relationships. Produced by Grammy Award-winner Chris Goldsmith (who has worked with Ben Harper, the Blind Boys of Alabama, Big Head Todd and the Monsters, Ruthie Foster and Charlie Musselwhite).

In 2011, Sayers released the acclaimed Hard Dollar, featuring the single “Back to the Blues,” (feat. labelmate Ruthie Foster) which was nominated for the Song of the Year Award at the 33rd Annual Blues Music Awards. The album launched him back onto stages around the country. More than 100 gigs followed, from New York City to Mammoth Lakes, CA.

2013 brought more tunes from this confident, mature, assured composer, by way of his sophomore album Rolling Soul. Heartfelt lyrics sung from deep inside matched with innovative guitar work, recorded with the warmth and soul and depth of the best vintage gear. It’s a record to contemplate and savor.

The Two High String Band is made up of Billy Bright, Geoff Union and Brian Smith. Billy and Brian have played together off and on as The Two High String Band since 1995, when they all attended the Berklee School of Music. Geoff joined in the summer of 2002 and The Two High String Band become a full time band.

Blending influences like Mississippi John Hurt and old time string bands with both the traditional and more modern strains of bluegrass, throwing in a little funk and Latin to spice things up and adding a little bit of a jam band sensibility to the music, The Two High String Band comes across as a completely original acoustic ensemble.

The 4-piece’s debut album for Blue Corn Music, ‘Insofarasmuch’ was recorded in late 2002 and released in 2003. The album reflects the diversity of their influences and is a stunning monument to the proficiency of these players. Old friends Vassar Clements and David Grisman join them on several cuts.

In addition to Billy’s originals, ‘Insofarasmuch’ features songs by Guy Clark and Verlon Thompson, Merle Haggard and the late John Hartford given the ‘Two High’ treatment. Still a young band, ‘Two High’ have just recently strapped on their touring wheels and have so far shared stages with, among others, the Tony Rice Unit, Slaid Cleaves and Yonder Mountain String Band.

Call the music of the South Austin Jug Band whatever you like: bluegrass or newgrass, neo-Jug, acoustic country-folk, Texas roots unplugged, swinging Lone Star beatnik country or anything else that strikes you. The sprightly picking and fiddling and the quintet’s witty original songs and choice covers make their sound defy easy pigeonholing while passing through countless categories.

With their eponymous debut studio album, the South Austin Jug Band (SAJB) captured on disc the almost indescribably alluring charm that has made them the toast of perhaps the most musical town in America. It was produced by Lloyd Maines, whose many credits include the multi-million selling Home by The Dixie Chicks as well as albums by Texas legends like Robert Earl Keen and Ray Wylie Hubbard.

Tempting as it may be, don’t just judge Gurf Morlix by the company he keeps, even if it does provide a fine starting point: eminent musical artists like Lucinda Williams, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Warren Zevon, Ian McLagan, Patty Griffin, Robert Earl Keen, Michael Penn, Buddy Miller, Mary Gauthier, Tom Russell, Jim Lauderdale and Slaid Cleaves, to name but a few. Instead, listen to his solo releases, and understand why his blue-ribbon associations as a producer, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist have led Morlix to a similar level of excellence as a singer, songwriter and artist in his own right.

Caroline Herring’s music can best be described as ‘Southern’. Blending the sounds of country, folk and bluegrass with the unmistakable spiritual influence of the blues and gospel, Caroline’s two Blue Corn albums reflect her Mississippi upbringing and her subsequent academic journey into Southern culture. More importantly, they showcase an extraordinary singer/songwriter whose poetic lyrics are matched by her melodic gifts and the sort of vocal talent that comes along all too infrequently.

‘Twilight’ Caroline’s debut Blue Corn release, garnered unanimous praise upon its release in 2001, especially in her adopted home of Austin, Texas where Caroline was named ‘Best New Artist’ at the 2002 Austin Music Awards. ‘Twilight’ is an amazing debut album, showcasing an artist who appears to emerge from nowhere as a fully developed talent. This was not the case of course, as Caroline had been perfecting her sound for several years prior to that in Austin and Oxford, Mississippi. The brilliant playing of musicians like Peter Rowan, Lloyd Maines and Billy and Bryn Bright and the sympathetic production of Austin legend John Inmon together with Caroline’s songwriting and vocal skills made ‘Twilight’ one of the top releases of 2001. This was reflected at the end of the year when it appeared on many critics’ ‘best of’ lists.

Caroline’s 2nd Blue Corn release, ‘Wellspring’, was released in 2003 and it reflects the growth and changes in her life since the release of ‘Twilight’. Caroline’s marriage is the most obvious influence as there are more relationship oriented songs on ‘Wellspring’. However, Caroline’s gift for literate story songs is still there especially on ‘Mistress’, the story of an East Texas slave and her relationship with the plantation owner. Musically, producer Rich Brotherton (Robert Earl Keen) expands the scope of ‘Twilight’s sound without losing sight of who Caroline is. Keyboards are added sparingly and Kelly Willis makes an appearance on ‘Jewels’. ‘Wellspring’ is ample proof that Caroline has dodged the ‘sophomore slump’ and released an album that is even stronger than her debut.