#bruce langhorn

[chaoticdesertdweller]

"My old friend, Judy Collins recently posted a photo on her Instagram of when we were in Japan together in May 1967. It was a crazy tour that had us playing all over Japan. I loved it. Thought I'd share one of the pix here. It looks like we were doing a song together (I was playing harmonica). Bruce Langhorn, me, Judy Collins and Mimi Fariña - 1967"- Arlo Guthrie via Facebook

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

Mel Lyman Family - Birth

Mel Lyman played harmonica like no one under the sun / Mel Lyman didn't just play harmonica, he was one. – Landis MacKellar

Something cool from the shadowy corners of Boston in the 1960s. Mel Lyman — the Fort Hill Community's founder. Writer, harmonica genius, cult leader! His stranger than fiction story is too deep to get into here, but it's definitely interesting stuff ... and there's some excellent music, too. Like this session, which I think has only been released as a bootleg in the early 2000s. A few details ...

From Ryan H. Walsh's great Astral Weeks: In late July 1969, Lyman and Kweskin asked their old bandmates Maria and Geoff Muldaur to put down some vocals at Petrucci & Atwell Studios on Newbury Street, not far from WBCN's headquarters. They recorded a transcendent version of Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready," with the Muldaurs' vocals bringing tears to Mel's eyes. The rekindling of this creative collaboration was short-lived, as Maria and Geoff were given the hard sell to join the FHC later that same night. "Hey, I love Mel because he's a great guy, not because he's God," Geoff explained. The room went deathly silent; the Muldaurs were not invited back.

Maria Muldaur: It was the day of the first moon landing. I'll never forget that ... the moonwalk was happening on the television in the other room. We kept going in and out. There was this whole trip about how portentiously cosmic this all was.

Richie Unterberger: This is a most mysterious CD, with nothing in the way of liner notes to explain how these sessions came to pass, although it does include musician credits and a sticker on the case describing it as a "previously unkonwn [sic] folk masterpiece from January 1970." No label address is listed, and for that matter the website address that appears on one page refuses connection. It can be deduced, however, that it's quite likely this material was recorded at or around the sessions yielding Mel Lyman's obscure 1969 album, American Avatar, since many of the musicians on that LP — Jim Kweskin, Bruce Langhorne, Geoff Muldaur, and Lisa Kindred — also appear in varying combinations on these tracks.

So yeah! Birth is a fascinating document, with haunting, almost impressionistic renderings of folk/blues favorites. I'm not sure what else compares to it — especially for the era. The tempos are slower than the Great Molasses Flood of 1919, the piano playing drifting into lysergic Bill Evans zones, the Muldaurs' harmonies finding the notes in-between the notes. I'm guessing everyone was extremely stoned. Don't need no ticket, you just get onboard.

[kdo-three]

Bob Dylan - Maggie's Farm (1965) Bob Dylan from: "Bringing It All Back Home" (LP) "Maggie's Farm" / "On the Road Again" (UK Single)

Blues Rock | Folk Rock

JukeHostUK (left click = play) (320kbps)

Personnel: Bob Dylan: Vocals / Guitar / Harmonica Frank Owens: Piano Bruce Langhorne: Guitar Al Gorgoni: Guitar Kenny Rankin:: Guitar Joseph Macho Jr.: Bass Bobby Gregg: Drums / Tambourine

Produced by Tom Wilson

Recorded: @ Columbia Records (CBS) Studio ‘A’ in Manhattan, New York City, New York USA on January 15, 1965

Album Released: on March 22, 1965

UK Single Released: on June 4, 1965

Columbia Records

[nomitigada]

1. Paul Metzger - Opening

from The Hired Hands: A Tribute to Bruce Langhorne

by Various Artists

[mywifeleftme]

279: V/A // Sky Girl

Sky Girl Various Artists 2013/2016 (reissue), Not on label/Efficient Space (Bandcamp)

Funny little compilation here, assembled from various ‘60s to ‘90s private and art presses by two French DJs. Of course, clearance issues come for us all—the original independently-released 2013 CD version had a rather different track list than this 2016 vinyl reissue on the Australian Efficient Space label. Still, in either formulation Sky Girl has a wonderful melancholy sweetness, mapping an emotional Venn diagram between C86 indie, Vashti Bunyan, Arthur Russell, bedroom R&B, gawky synth pop, and beyond. Being largely* from the private press realm, the originals of these recordings are nearly all painfully pricey: Warfield Spillers’ “Daddy’s Little Girl” single crosses the soul ballad with Beat Happening lo-fi and will cost you $800; an original of the Rising Storm LP that contains “Frozen Laughter,” an impossibly delicate psychedelic idyll, will run you a cool six grand or so. Unlike a lot of comps that focus on this market, this isn’t really weirdo stuff. These people are for the most part fairly talented and seemingly sane people who are trying their best to make good music that will make the listener feel something. Some of them probably could’ve gotten a bite at the record industry apple with a little more luck, but a lot of the songs the compilers have selected have a private vibe that seems endemic to their nature, like overhearing something intended for a lover or a diary. Collectors pay a premium for that sense, like some Japanese novel about lovers who never meet but distantly pine in a waft of mutual déjà vu (this I guess is the plot of Le double vie de Véronique also, and “Ana Ng”).

I would’ve loved if the compilation’s liners had offered more of the stories of these recordings, though it’s admittedly fun to Do My Own Research sometimes. (And the reissue cover is lamentably drab.) The 2016 version of the comp is readily available on streaming platforms for those who wish to sample—I especially recommend prolific indie cassette artist Linda Smith’s “I So Liked Spring,” Australian minimal wave obscurity Karen Marks’ “Cold Café,” and the robotic puberty-angst groover “Feeling Sheepish” by Some of My Best Friends Are Canadians. But Sky Girl really is more than the sum of its parts, as any good mixtape should be.

279/365

* The CD version did open with a track by the Haruomi Hosono-affiliated duo Testpattern that was well-distributed, in Japan at least.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Joni Mitchell: “When I was 19 I went to art school. I had six months of teaching myself to play baritone ukulele under my belt, so was sort of a novice folkie. … I was singing folk songs at that time. At that time I was a folk singer. … Then I went to Toronto to see the Mariposa Folk Festival, actually to see Buffy Sainte-Marie. I still didn’t have an image of myself as a musician. I found I couldn’t work and I didn’t have enough money to get in the union, $160, I didn’t have it. I worked in women’s wear. I worked in a department store and I could barely make ends meet. I finally found a scab club in Toronto that allowed me to play. I played there for a couple of months. Then I married Chuck Mitchell and I moved across the border. We still were scrambling to work. As a couple, we were making $15 a night. There were clubs that were very cliquish that we couldn’t get into. In Detroit, we had a fifth floor walkup apartment and it had some extra rooms. When Eric Anderson and David Blue and Tom Rush, and people passed through Detroit, we billeted them there. Bruce Langhorne, they used to stay with us. Eric taught me a couple of open tunings. He taught me Open G and Drop D Modal tuning. Once I got the open tunings for some reason, I began to get the harmonic sophistication that I heard that my musical fountain inside was excited by. Once I got some interesting chords to play with, my writing began to come.”

Interview by Joe Smith Photo by Jim

[diceriadelluntore]

Storia Di Musica #304 - Bob Dylan, Bringing It Al Back Home, 1965

Ogni anno ho raccontato un disco di Bob Dylan. Prescindere da Dylan è impossibile per il rock, e arriva in luoghi, stili e musicisti che a prima vista sembrano lontani anni luci da lui. Eppure, il suo è uno degli ingranaggi cruciali che mette in moto la macchina della musica popolare occidentale (e non solo) che è arrivata fino ad oggi. Il disco di oggi è l'occasione per un viaggio alquanto insolito, che svelerò alla fine, per chiudere il 2023 musicale. Il disco di oggi nasce da alcune idee che erano state scartate per quello precedente, Another Side Of Bob Dylan del 1964. Sebbene ancora legato al folk, quel disco scopre un lato introspettivo che il Dylan di quei tempi ancora doveva scandagliare: inizia quindi a mettere di lato (sebbene non lo abbandonerà mai del tutto) il lato politico e sociale (dello stesso anno è The Times They Are A-Changin') per quello privato. Inoltre c'è la necessità musicale di legare insieme il folk dei primordi con le nuove pulsioni del rock'n'roll, che secondo Dylan gli permetterebbero maggiore libertà creativa. Decide quindi di andare a vivere in una piccola villetta di campagna a Woodstock, proprio a pochi km dalla spianata che pochi anni più tardi fu teatro di una immensa folla rock, casa di proprietà del suo manager Albert Grossman. Dylan adora quel posto, e ci passa tutta l'estate. Dopo pochi giorni, è raggiunto da Joan Baez, che racconta la routine del menestrello di Duluth: passava la giornata alla macchina da scrivere, accompagnato incessantemente da sigarette e bottiglie di vino, e spesso nel cuore della notte avendo avuto una intuizione si metteva a scrivere senza soluzioni di continuità. Dylan è cauto, e affina tutti i particolari: alla prima sessione di registrazione canta da solo acustico. Il giorno dopo, 14 Gennaio 1965 che nella storia del rock è un giorno importante, si presenta con una band elettrica: i chitarristi Al Gorgoni, Kenneth Rankin, e il grande Bruce Langhorne, il pianista Paul Griffin, i bassisti Joseph Macho Jr. e William E. Lee, e il batterista Bobby Gregg. Registrano per ore, e le canzoni volano veloci e in poche ore, quando è notte fonda, è pronto metà disco. La sera successiva, il 15 Gennaio, Dylan dopo cena si presenta con una nuova band, tra cui John P. Hammond, che diventerà suo fido braccio destro negli anni a seguire, e John Sebastian, che diventerà famoso con i Lovin' Spoonful. Di questa sessione però non fu salvato nulla, così il 16 torna in studio con tutti i musicisti e finisce di registrare il disco. Che secondo il racconto dei presenti fu tutto di first takes, cioè canzoni registrate e considerate buone dopo solo una registrazione. Dylan, timoroso che il passaggio totale alla musica elettrica fosse un passo troppo lungo, decide di dividere il disco a metà con canzoni vecchia maniera musicalmente, ma che nei testi e nelle idee lo propongono del tutto nuovo: un surrealismo fantastico che lega Rimbaud alla beat generation, e che inizia a popolare lo scenario della musica giovanile di luoghi e personaggi che diventeranno archetipi.

Il 22 Marzo 1965 viene pubblicato Bringing It All Back Home dalla Columbia. Verrà distribuito in alcuni paesi con il titolo di Subterrean Homesick Blues, nome del primo singolo, ma ciò che importa è che è uno dei più grandi dischi di Dylan, ergo, è uno dei più grandi dischi della storia del rock. Perchè riesce nell'intento che si era prefissato, cioè trovare un legame credibile tra la tradizione folk, il blues e il nascente rock, creando paesaggi lirici che sconvolgono, consegnando alla storia canzoni mito su cui tutti hanno preso spunto. La sequenza di canzoni è ormai a quasi 60 anni dall'uscita un greatest hits: Subterrean Homesick Blues è il biglietto d'ingresso nel mondo elettrico, e passa anche alla storia per l'innovativo videoclip, famosissimo e stracitato, di Dylan con i cartelli di parole chiavi del testo, con Allen Ginsberg che passeggia sullo sfondo di una vecchia fabbrica in rovina. Il testo, che utilizza anche espressioni da strada, è una infinita carrellata di riferimenti, più o meno chiari, alla società, alla politica, al giornalismo, e inizia a creare delle espressioni che diventeranno futuri slogan tra studenti, manifestanti per i diritti civile e così via (il più famoso You don't need a weather man\To know which way the wind blows). She Belongs To Me è l'ennesima novità stilistica: la prima figura di "donna ammaliatrice" (definizione di uno dei massimi studiosi di Dylan, Robert Shelton) con cui esiste un rapporto difficoltoso, sebbene non si sappia chi sia realmente l'spirazione, le più accreditate sono Suze Rotolo, la sua ex fidanzata che sta con lui sulla copertina di Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, sua sodale, Nico, la cantante svedese che conobbe alla Factory di Warhol e che canterà con i Velvet Underground o forse Sara Lownds, quella che diventerà sua moglie poche settimane dopo l'uscita del disco. Ogni canzone diventerà un'icona: Maggie's Farm, probabilmente un blues contro ogni forma di sfruttamento; On The Road Again è una dichiarazione profetica sul rapporto Dylan-successo, dove il primo spesso sceglie la lontananza e l'autoesilio, impaurito da quello che succede; It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding), tutta acustica, è uno dei massimi capolavori lirici dylaniani, con una carrellata drammatica per tensione e suggestione di immagini e sensazioni che esprimono un impellente desiderio di critica nei confronti dell'ipocrisia, del consumismo, dei sostenitori della guerra, e della cultura americana contemporanea, che rispetto al Dylan folk stavolta non si risolve in un ottimismo rivoluzionario, ma in un arrabbiato status quo da osservare. Ricordo altre due perle: It's All Over Now, Baby Blue, Dylan alla chitarra acustica e all'armonica a bocca e William E. Lee al basso come unica strumentazione, è un'altra ballata storica, dai mille significati (chi sia o cosa sia Baby Blue, per esempio) ma la canzone più famosa è senza dubbio Mr. Tambourine Man, altra canzone dai mille significati e simbolismi, che diventerà un soprannome dello stesso Dylan, e oggetto di centinaia di saggi, anche accademici, alla ricerca dei messaggi più reconditi di questo vagabondo con tamburo intento a suonare una canzone per lui mentre la notte sta per terminare avviandosi verso il mattino tintinnante.

Il disco è un successo: numero 6 nella classifica americana, addirittura numero 1 in Gran Bretagna, dove in quei mesi inizia una vera e proprio Dylanmania. E sarà uno dei più coverizzati di sempre: i Byrds lo riprenderanno quasi del tutto, e molte delle loro versioni di questi brani diventeranno famose, anche per l'uso nelle colonne sonore, da ricordare quelle in Easy Rider. Ma non tutti furono folgorati, e non posso non ricordare l'episodio che avvenne al Festival Di Newport: il 25 luglio 1965 Dylan si presentò sul palcoscenico non come cantante solista con chitarra e armonica come suo solito, ma con una chitarra elettrica accompagnato dalla Paul Butterfield Blues Band, formidabile band di blues elettrico. Qui succede questo: non si sa nemmeno bene se fosse colpa dell'acustica che non funzionava, ma il pubblico iniziò a fischiare Dylan, che dopo un paio di brani lasciò il palco; gli organizzatori lo convinsero a ritornare, solo con armonica e chitarra, per una sessione solo acustica che leggenda vuole finisca con It's All Over Now (Baby Blue), da allora canzone anche per sancire un passaggio epocale nella vita delle persone deluse dai cambiamenti.

Rimane da raccontare la copertina: Daniel Kramer con una lente distorsiva fotografa Dylan in un salotto con una donna, Sally Grossman, moglie dell'allora manager di Dylan, Albert Grossman. Sul tavolino tra i due dischi famosi Keep On Pushing de The Impressions, King Of The Delta Blues Singers di Robert Johnson, India's Master Musician di Ravi Shakar, Sings Berlin Theatre Songs by Kurt Weill di Lotte Leyna e l'amico Eric Von Schmidt con The Folk Blues Of Eric Von Schmidt; dietro Sally Grossman, seminascosto da un cuscino, c'è il lato superiore della copertina dell'album Another Side Of Bob Dylan, e sotto il suo braccio destro, una copia della rivista Time con Lyndon B. Johnson in copertina. Sulla mensola del camino, alla sinistra del dipinto, si vede l'album di Lord Buckley The Best Of Lord Buckley. Compare un gatto, che si chiamava Rolling Stone, Dylan indossa dei gemelli regalati da Joan Baez e in primo piano, in basso a sinistra della fotografia, campeggia un cartello con su scritto Fallout Shelter (rifugio antiatomico). Questo tavolino sarò il punto di partenza di nuove storie, nel nome di Dylan e di uno dei dischi fondamentali della storia.

[kiki-de-la-petite-flaque]

Joni Mitchell: “When I was 19 I went to art school. I had six months of teaching myself to play baritone ukulele under my belt, so was sort of a novice folkie. … I was singing folk songs at that time. At that time I was a folk singer. … Then I went to Toronto to see the Mariposa Folk Festival, actually to see Buffy Sainte-Marie. I still didn’t have an image of myself as a musician. I found I couldn’t work and I didn’t have enough money to get in the union, $160, I didn’t have it. I worked in women’s wear. I worked in a department store and I could barely make ends meet. I finally found a scab club in Toronto that allowed me to play. I played there for a couple of months. Then I married Chuck Mitchell and I moved across the border. We still were scrambling to work. As a couple, we were making $15 a night. There were clubs that were very cliquish that we couldn’t get into. In Detroit, we had a fifth floor walkup apartment and it had some extra rooms. When Eric Anderson and David Blue and Tom Rush, and people passed through Detroit, we billeted them there. Bruce Langhorne, they used to stay with us. Eric taught me a couple of open tunings. He taught me Open G and Drop D Modal tuning. Once I got the open tunings for some reason, I began to get the harmonic sophistication that I heard that my musical fountain inside was excited by. Once I got some interesting chords to play with, my writing began to come.”

Interview by Joe Smith

Photo by Jim Marshall

[theretirementhome]

NEW MIX: Sad Boy Fall

When you cast a wide net for songs with fall vibes you're gonna catch a whole lot of sad boys. These boys are in and out of love. They are wistful. They are forlorn. They are obsessed. They are making dance club hits into melancholy meditations. They are whispering into the walls of ancient temples and sealing the holes with dirt. Autumn is here and the tears of the sad boys are falling like leaves.

Tracklist:

Dennis Harte - Summer's Over

Leo Nocentelli - Give Me Back My Loving

Durul Gence - Boo Song

Michael Galasso - Angkor Wat Theme I

Charlie Megira - Tomorrow's Gone

freckleface - Trouble In Mind

Ted Lucas - Baby Where You Are

Bruce Langhorne - Opening

twain - The Magician

Arthur Russell - In Love with You for the Last Time

Ferlin Husky - Living In A Trance

The Rolling Stones - Hear It

McDonald And Giles - Flight Of The Ibis

Sandy Salisbury - Come Softly

Maston - Better Off Alone

Gary Shearston - Faded Streets, Windy Weather

Jackson C Frank - Blues Run The Game

Christopher Bear, Daniel Rossen - Why Are You Going to New York

Roger Fakhr - Insomnia Blue

Tonstartssbandht - What Has Happened

Michael Hurley - Got Over It

[warningsine]

Anjana Vasan – Too Dark For Country (EP)

Folkroom Records – 6 October 2017

The bijoux label, Folkroom Records, run by writer and promoter Stephen Thomas, and musician Ben Walker have been a bit light on releases recently, concentrating on their fortnightly music sessions held at The Harrisons in Kings Cross. Too Dark For Country, a four-song EP by actress/musician Anjana Vasan is their first release in three years but it’s been well worth the wait.

Vasan, raised in Singapore, has forged a successful career on screen and stage here in the UK but she’s also been a regular at the label’s music shows and grew up on a diet of blues music. The four songs here reflect this interest in the blues and in particular singers like Bessie Smith. Vasan’s vocals are strong and agile, able to bellow and tease with equal ease. With Ben Walker producing and adding guitar, the songs are all excellent recalling Greenwich Village, delta blues and confessional singer-songwriters.

Oh Sister opens the EP with Vasan hollerin’ from the Delta before the song slips into what is probably a unique combination of Bobbie Gentry and The McGarrigles. Here she deconstructs the familiar “good woman done wrong by an evil-hearted man” trope urging her sisters to learn from their forebear’s mistakes. She has an arresting lyric, “You love like a martyr, wear your heart like a suicide vest,” which just cuts to the chase. An excellent song.

Outsider Blues has Walker’s slide guitar snaking throughout it as Vasan sings of her own experiences of racism – a city boy rolling her name around his tongue as if he couldn’t figure out its sound. The song recalls the sixties sound of Bruce Langhorne wending his way through a Dylan acoustic ballad while Vasan’s voice is as rich, thick and sweet as molasses.

There’s a bit of light relief in her paean to Key Lime Pie which again harks back to early sixties folkdom with its light-hearted lyrics and playful vocals, a nod to more innocent days perhaps but the closing song is of a darker nature. The Ballad Of Richard Morgan is a dark and slow bluesy lament with Vasan taking on the character of the title who was Bessie Smith’s lover and who was driving the car the night of Smith’s fatal accident. She tells of him listening to Smith and reliving the event, the cracked bones and blood of the night, “When my lover sings, fingers gouge at my eyes.” It’s a chilling listen as Vasan inhabits the blues.

On the evidence of the four songs here, Ms. Vasan is a very fine singer and songwriter and she recalls at times the authenticity and freshness of Hurray For The Riff Raff‘s Alynda Segarra’s early rootsier efforts.

The record can be pre-ordered now for £5 on the Folkroom Bandcamp page here and tickets for Anjana’s album launch can be booked here. The event, at The Slaughtered Lamb in London on October 7th, will see a headline set by Anjana herself, and a support slot from the immensely talented Folkroom alumnus Robin Elliott.’

[odk-2]

Bob Dylan - She Belongs to Me (1965) Bob Dylan from: "Subterranean Homesick Blues" / "She Belongs to Me" (Single) "Bringing It All Back Home" (LP)

Folk/Rock

JukeHostUK (left click = "play) (320kbps)

Personnel: Bob Dylan: Vocals / Guitar / Harmonica Bruce Langhorne: Guitar William E. Lee: Bass Bobby Gregg: Drums

Produced by Tom Wilson

Recorded: @ CBS 30th Street Studio | Columbia Studio A in New York City, New York USA on January 14, 1965

Single Released: on March 8, 1965

Album Released: on March 22, 1965

Columbia Records

[stevens-stuff]

Weekly Quiz - 4/8/23

The Weekly Quiz Click on the right answer and it will appear in GREEN. If your choice pops up in RED the answer is incorrect. Good luck! Question One What was Samuel Langhorne Clemens’s pen name? Mark Twain John Steinbeck Robert Bell William Wordsworth Question Two What is the name of this news presenter? Jane Hill Fiona Bruce Victoria Derbyshire Sally Nugget Question Three Brisket is a…

[musicbyamandagrace]

Caravan Du Nord

On Saturday, February 25th, Caravan du Nord will be at Paramount Theatre in Austin, featuring Mae Simpson, with Maygen & The Birdwatcher and Amanda Grace. 

This multi-genre musical experience will be an unforgettable showcase of amazing Minnesota talent in the beautiful historic Paramount Theatre in downtown Austin. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund, and is sponsored by The Current and Explore Minnesota. 

Caravan du Nord features Minnesota musicians of different genres and backgrounds from across the state. This year’s showcase series launched in October 2022 stops in St. Paul and Red Wing, and will continue January-March, 2023 with tour stops in Rochester, Northfield, Austin, and Duluth. Each tour stop also features a workshop and networking event for any local musicians. Learn more about all Caravan du Nord events at https://www.mnmusiccoalition.org/caravan-du-nord/ 

Schedule for the Day 

3PM Music Careers in 2023, Presented by Scott LeGere

Paramount Theatre Annex, 125 4th Avenue NE, Austin, MN

Creating a career in music is a constantly changing and sometimes challenging endeavor. In order to empower your next steps, this workshop will cover topics including digital distribution, revenue streams, and resources for Minnesota musicians to help you broaden your potential opportunities in our exciting music environment.

4PM Musician Panel: Making it in Minnesota - How Musicians Build Successful Career Paths

Paramount Theatre Annex, 125 4th Avenue NE, Austin, MN

A panel of musicians will discuss how they have built their careers, what they learned along the way, and how those lessons can translate to your musical journey. Panelists include: Mae Simpson, Josh Whalen, Maygen Lacey, Jae Havoc.

5:30PM-6:30PM Networking Social Hour Dusty’s Bar and Lounge, 422 N Main St, Austin, MN 55912 

Register for networking and workshop events HERE 

7:00PM Doors / 7:30PM Show: Caravan du Nord concert, featuring Mae Simpson, with Maygen & The Birdwatcher and Amanda Grace ONSALE DATE To be announced 

Paramount Theatre, 125 4th Avenue NE, Austin, MN

Purchase tickets HERE 

About the Artists 

Mae Simpson shook up the Twin Cities' scene in 2019, Winning battle of the bands, and City Pages reader’s choice “Best New Band” along with being named a nominee for “Best Live Concert”. Mae and her seven piece band including a horn section, blur the lines between a wide range of influences. From the depth and energy of funk and rock, down to the melodic edge of R&B and folk. Led by Mae Simpson, who's '...voice is larger than life — but not as large as her uncontainable energy that radiates from the stage." Helen Teague - Minnesota Public Radio. Known for their Intense and exciting live shows, the band has an immediate impact that favors the human connection between the musicians and the audience. Opening up for acts like Dermot Kennedy, Karl Denson, Rubblebucket, Robert Clay, Langhorn Slim, Pert Near Sandstone and Playing many notable stages across the Midwest like First ave main room, The Fillmore mpls, Basilica Block Party, Live On King Street, and Blue Ox. If you are a fan of artists such as Alabama Shakes, Lake Street Dive and Bruce Springsteen, Mae Simpson is right up your alley. https://www.facebook.com/MaeSimpsonMusic/

Maygen & The Birdwatcher - Coming off the successful release of their award-winning "stunning" (Americana UK) debut full-length album, Moonshine, Maygen & The Birdwatcher are off and runnin’. The folk duo-turned 6-piece adventurously blur the sounds of country, bluegrass, folk, and blues - keepin' it all fresh. With the versatility to play in a number of stage configurations ranging from an intimate duo to their boot-stomping full band, the group can charm a broad range of audiences. From beauty to grit, sadness to silliness, the common thread is that this group loves music, and playing it together. It shows. To ensure the full spectrum of their sound is available to listeners, the band is releasing a 6-song EP Sept 9 called Bootleggin’ At The Flower Shoppe. They went right back to Flowers Studio (The Jayhawks, Mason Jennings, Soul Asylum, Jeremy Messersmith, Lizzo) with Kris Johnson, who was their engineer on Moonshine, and recorded the more energetic and good-timin’ songs that were written around the same time as Moonshine, but hadn’t gotten the chance to be properly recorded and shared with their fans. They like to think of Bootleggin’ as Moonshine’s companion, released less than a year from each other, with many different things to offer listeners that have grown to look forward to their diverse approach to songwriting. The band has only been playing together for two years but has already landed opportunities to join festival stages with bands like Old Crow Medicine Show, Paul Cauthen, Grace Potter, and even support a childhood favorite, Travis Tritt. "In many ways, Maygen & The Birdwatcher feel like a collaboration between two distinct artists versus a more seamless band-- but it's that individuality, those visible seams, that make them such a fascinating act." - Adventures In Americana   www.MaygenandtheBirdwatcher.com 

Amanda Grace - Amanda is a Minnesota born and raised singer-songwriter producing music drifting between folk and rock with an emphasis on melody and ballads. With roots as a pianist her writing is thematically varied with an emphasis on melody; with ballads wrapped in warm vocals. In 2016 she received a "Front Of The Line" pass from The Voice. She’s released 7 albums and travels regionally. Her latest album, "Please Dear Sun" was nominated for "Blues & Roots Album Of The Year." https://musicbyamandagrace.com

[martincolyer]

“I Think I’m Going Back…”Five pieces of music that moved me in 2022

“I Think I’m Going Back…”Five pieces of music that moved me in 2022

Son Little / Like NeptuneIt’s as if Shuggie Otis walked into a recording studio in the middle of a nodded-out Sly Stone session and found Bruce Langhorne in the corner making his sound tapestries for Dennis Hopper’s The Hired Hand. It sounds like the 60s, now, as modern as tomorrow, as old as yesterday. I bought ten copies to give to friends I thought might like it. It’s that good. Aimee Mann…

[swanlake1998]

alvin ailey and carmen de lavallade (with bruce langhorne & brother john sellers) photographed in alvin ailey's roots of the blues by jack mitchell