|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| City Salvage Records | A new, eclectic label out of Brooklyn, NY. City Salvage is the brainchild of writer & visual artist Andy Friedman, who has taken a big step out of the box by creating this venue to champion both printed work & sound recordings. The host of my new CD, as well as Paul Curreri's and Devon Sproule's. |
| Nickeltown | Fresh, literate, contemporary folk. These guys not only had the good taste to cover two of my songs on their CD Presto Change-o, they're also a smart songwriting team & high-octane positive energy performers. In case you haven't heard them before, think Tom Waits, Lyle Lovett, Allen Ginsberg, Michael Hedges, John Prine, Yosemite Sam . . . |
| Naked Puritans | Another Charlottesville-based group, they remind some people of '80s Brit-pop groups like The Smiths. Fair enough, but you also have to take into account the influences of modernist poetry, science fiction, good ol' rock-n-roll, & leader Lance Brenner's sui generis vision. Fully self-realized in both their 3-piece electric & their acoustic-with-strings ("The Naked Puritan Philharmonic") incarnations. I've written some violin & cello arrangements for them. |
| Danny Schmidt | One of my favorite singer-songwriters. A haunting, ageless voice; melodies that are both simple & original; wry, moving lyrics; a guitar style that's as organic as it is unpredictable. What force is he tapping into, anyway? |
| Jan Smith Band | Lately come to Charlottesville from Kentucky, Jan's bluegrass-tinged, straight-from-the-heart folk songs and smooth-as-Irish-cream voice will soon have people saying, "I saw her when..." |
| Paul Curreri | Anyone who's seen Paul shock a noisy barroom into silence has experienced what it must have been like to see Dylan breaking onto the folk scene in the early '60s--though his charisma, surrealistic lyrics, and beat-angel voice are without precedent. |
| Devon Sproule | After starting her career with a precocious & bold but somewhat familiar bang as an edgy kid with a big voice & a guitar, Devon has emerged from her mentors' shadows to undergo a startling transformation over the past few years. With her brave step from brashness into sophisticated, hard-earned vulnerability, she has vindicated her early fans and continues to win new ones with every show. Her masterful Upstate Songs proves Devon worthy of holding her own on a shelf with anyone from Joni Mitchell to Ani DiFranco to Gillian Welch, while reminding you less & less of anyone you've ever heard before. |
| Larry Pattis | Imaginative, lovely virtuoso fingerstyle guitar. |
| Larry Gallagher | Somewhere between Cole Porter, Paul Simon, and Krusty the Klown stands this moving and insidiously memorable Californian songwriter. |
| Gravity Lounge | As if to go St. Jude one better, Bill & Don & their cohorts are the patron saints of causes that (mostly) haven't been found yet. Offering up artisanal foodstuffs, coffees, wine, beer, smart books, & out-of-the-way live music, the Gravity has only been open since summer 2003, but there are already a lot of people who can't imagine Charlottesville without it. |
| Acoustic Charlottesville | The town's most welcoming, performer-friendly unplugged venue for local musicians. Hugs, patchouli, birkenstocks & socks, a few kids scampering around . . . |
| Acoustic Muse | Charlottesville's movable feast of higher-profile acoustic performers, run by a selfless and tireless group of great people. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|