Casey Neill: Concert & Live Webcast
Tickets: $18 advance, $22 at the door
Click here to purchase advance tickets.
Casey Neill’s career has always walked the line between lyrical song craft and ferocious live shows. He is a songwriter and bandleader from Portland, Oregon with a sound that explores haunting ballads, high octane folk punk, and Scots/Irish melody. Neill’s latest record, Goodbye to the Rank and File is the first to feature his band, the Norway Rats, which includes an all star cast of Portland musicians. For over a decade he has performed throughout the US, Europe, and Japan averaging over a hundred shows a year. A new record titled All You Pretty Vandals produced by Chris Funk of the Decemberists is slated for release in the Fall of 2013.
“These are songs with stories well told. This is what it’s all about” – Steve Earle
“Casey Neill’s latest record, Goodbye to the Rank and File, is just as much audio book as it is album, teeming with rich lyrics that paint the glory and gutter of a wanderer’s struggle. Backed by talented Rats like Jenny Conlee (the Decemberists, Black Prairie) and Chet Lyster (Lucinda Williams Band), Neill bellows pack the punch of white-capped seas, soaking the band’s big sky, prairie wind sound with a haunting graveness. It just may be Portland’s strongest brand of unfettered, contemporary roots rock.” – Mark Stock, Willamette Week
Neill’s original weather beaten stories eschew irony in favor of romance, celebrate society’s miscreants, and explore the hidden corners of the American landscape. The songs travel from place to place, with scenes from the rural Northwest to New York City street life. While the writing owes much to narrative tradition, the sound has far more in common with the early years of the college rock and post hardcore indie scene. Casey’s recent recordings show the influence of the Replacements, Husker Du, and R.E.M. A lifelong Clash fan, Joe Strummer covers are often part of the set.
“Be it through raucous rockers, fragile acoustic ballads, ragged country, passionate bursts of punk fury or soulful touches of Irish folk, Neill’s narrative talent and concern for real people’s struggles stand out. (Neill) evokes an epic feel that fits perfectly with the implicit grandiosity of this emotional material, delivered with a raspy, affectionate voice that recalls Life’s Rich Pageant-era Michael Stipe. The results are so evocative, you’ll be tempted to steep further in these memories, the better to share Casey Neill’s particular blend of personal and historical experience.” – Splendid eZine
“Soul-searing songs “- Utne Reader “remarkably good songwriting” – No Depression
Casey Neill’s acoustic roots run deep. He is a sought after side player & has recorded with master traditional fiddlers such as Kevin Burke, Martin Hayes, and Johnny Cunningham. Irish supergroup Solas recorded Casey’s original song “Lowground” on their CD’s Waiting for an Echo and Reunion. In 1997, he inked a three record deal with the folk label Appleseed and was featured on their tribute to Pete Seeger along with Bruce Springsteen, Billy Bragg, and Bonnie Raitt. A compilation of his material entitled Memory Against Forgetting was released by Amy Ray’s label Daemon in 2005. Following a few years of residence in New York City, Casey moved back to Portland and it’s thriving music community. In 2007, his CD Brooklyn Bridge was released by the NW imprint In Music We Trust and the Norway Rats were formed to tour the material. Goodbye to the Rank and File followed in 2010 and garnered rave reviews from online blogs, radio, and press. In 2013, a handful of solo performances are booked for the Spring with the band hitting the road in the Fall.
“When the day is young, everything seems possible; the next waking hours can become anything you want them to be. Casey Neill’s newest album, Goodbye to the Rank and File, is very much like that thought. It’s just bloody good, the storytelling, the diverse influences, the delivery, it all comes together to box your ears, but oh, you’ll like the bruises. Lyrically, this is the best album I’ve heard in a very long time, musically it is almost as good, Casey Neill has hit a grand slam with this album.” Aaron Binder, Wordbird
“… introspective, sometimes autobiographical tales of misery and redemption, cracked ceilings and brilliant mornings, despair and love, tales from the other side of the tracks given quite real depth and emotive power. We haven’t all quite been there but when we do arrive at the destinations described by the twelve songs on Rank And File we’ll know where we are, thanks to Neill’s eye for detail combined with his unflinching humanity. If I’d wanted to hear an album that encapsulated the barroom romanticism, neon lit glamour of a downtown Saturday night anywhere, an imaginatively vivid evocation of life lived not quite on the margins but lived to the full nonetheless, … then I couldn’t have asked to hear a more completely realized work than Rank And File.“ – Jon Gordon, Adequacy.net
AP Dugas, Gregory Paul and Annie Ford
Tickets: $8 advance, $10 at the door
Click here to purchase advance tickets.
AP Dugas is an active singer songwriter who hails from Texas and is a recent transplant to Seattle. He is influenced by Towns Van Zandt, Willie Nelson and Elliot Smith and has a background in punk and rock. His voice and songs ring true with a heartfelt authenticity. He is the lead singer in the Ganges River Band and also performs solo around Seattle, Bellingham and Texas.
www.reverbnation.com/apdugasandthegangesriverband
Gregory Paul spent most of his life in Upstate, NY before moving to Seattle in 2009. He has been touring and recording sporadically for many years, making mesmerizing music with folk, traditional / old-time, rock, and experimental influences. He currently can be found performing old-time & traditional music throughout the week at the Pike Place Market in Seattle. GP has provided accompaniment for Lindsay Fuller, S…era Cahoone, Shannon Stephens and many others.
Annie Ford from Virginia is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and studio musician, performing in numerous groups around in Seattle. She was a regular fixture at the Pike Place Market for several years street performing with the group Slimpickins. She has contributed most recently to the records of local artists Shannon Stephens and Ali Marcus and is an active member of Nu Klezmer Army, Cast Iron Maidens and Annie Ford Band. Memories of the mountains back home, travels across the country and ghosts of love permeate the emotional landscape of her songs. There is a timeless and dynamic quality to her playing and singing that seems at once to come from the ether and a deep connection to the inner workings of the heart.
All three of these songwriters have collaborated separately within Seattle’s broader eclectic scene and regularly perform solo.
Tylan
Tickets: $15 advance, $18 at the door.
The 7PM show has sold out – however, due to popular demand we’ve added a 9PM show! Grab tickets now to ensure a seat.
Click here to purchase advance tickets.
After five studio albums and ten years on the road with the internationally acclaimed folk-pop quartet Girlyman, Tylan is returning to her roots with a debut solo CD, One True Thing. “Playing with Girlyman for so long has really spoiled me,” says Tylan Greenstein, who’s decided to drop her last name for her new solo venture. Founded in 2001, the four members of Girlyman went from playing for tips in coffeehouses to headlining (and selling out) 400-500 seat venues across the country; they also toured internationally, graced festival main stages, and opened extensively for such folk luminaries as Indigo Girls and Dar Williams.
“I couldn’t ask for a more talented group of musicians, or for a more successful career,” says Tylan. “All those instruments and arrangements in Girlyman have really supported my songs. At the same time, there’s something about the raw, lyric-driven acoustic experience that has always appealed to me. I like the idea of there being very little between the song and the listener. That’s where I come from.”
Tylan is in good hands, working with producer Michael Connolly at the renowned Empty Sea Studios in Seattle to create this stripped-down sound – using guitar, piano, Hammond organ, upright bass, cello, and the drums of fellow Girlyman member JJ Jones. “Michael is very good at creating an orchestra with just a few instruments and leaving lots of space for the song to come through. I’m excited to see what we create together.”
Tylan is already off to an auspicious start. Her Kickstarter campaign for One True Thing created a tremendous buzz and raised nearly $47,000 from 760 backers in 30 days – the second highest grossing Kickstarter campaign ever in the Folk/Country category. Watch for One True Thing in early 2013, with CD release tours to follow nationwide in the spring.
“Tylan’s practice of extending metaphors out toward a precipice keeps an unpredictable edge to [her] songs. Most writers would stop at the easy close. Ty jumps, leaving much to imagination, to powerful effect. Ty’s expressive alto brings quiet energy to her introspective ballads, nursing a negotiation of life from pain to acceptance, if not peace.” – Americana Gazette
“’Amaze Me,’ ‘Somewhere Different Now,’ ‘Young James Dean,’ and lots more evoked names like Janis Ian and Willie Nelson, emotional outsiders with their hearts on their sleeves. Folksy Americana and urban literacy sit comfortably together in [her] songs.” – Whisperinandhollerin.com
Cancelled – Huck Notari with Jenn Rawling and Basho Parks
Please note – due to unforeseen circumstances this show has been cancelled.
Advance ticketholders: You will receive a full refund through Brown Paper Tickets. We apologize for any inconvenience!
Live Webcast: Nels Andrews & Ian Thomas Parks
Tickets: $15 advance, $18 at the door
Click here to purchase advance tickets.
Nels Andrews has spent the last decade wandering, gathering songs, and singing them all over the globe, sharing them around campfires, clubs, coffee shops, festivals, and living room floors.
Critically, he’s struck a nerve, earning songwriting awards from prestigious US festivals such as Kerrville, Telluride, and Mountain Stage. BBC 2′s legendary DJ Bob Harris (The Old Grey Whistle Test) has recognized his work as an album of the year. He has been in the top 5 of the year Americana UK charts, as well as KRO Dutch National Radio, Alt-country NL, Ctrl Alt Country (Belgium), and the European Radio Americana Chart . Nels’ premiere album Sunday Shoes continued to find itself in Top Ten albums of the year lists, almost always as the only independent release.
His second album, Off Track Betting, received similar critical acclaim, leading to headlining shows at the Paradiso in
Amsterdam, and national television broadcast from the legendary Bim Huis in The Netherlands. Nels has shared stages across the US and Europe with the likes of Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, Dick Gaughan, Slaid Cleaves, and The Tallest Man on Earth, main stage performances at Kerrville, Telluride, and twice on the main stage at Holland’s TakeRoot festival, The Big Big Country festival in Glasgow, Scotland, and The Orange/Vodaphone Evolution festival in Newcastle.
His new record Scrimshaw is the second collaboration with producer Todd Sickafoose (Anais Mitchell, Ani Difranco,
Andrew Bird). Scrimshaw was released in April in Europe, debuted at #1 on the Euro-Americana charts and is already gathering rave reviews:
“Dramatic tension songs of America, you really should check out Nels!” – Peter Case
“Nels Andrews proves that he deserves a spot in the ranks of today’s Americana heroes.” – American Songwriter
“A true wellspring of 21st century music.” album of the week, – Iain Anderson, BBC Scotland
Ian Thomas Parks:
Former Seattleite and rock troubadour Ian Parks is best known as the front man of the band An American Starlet, of which No Depression claimed “combine the heartache of classic country with the minor key flare of Northwest Indie rock”. The band’s two records “Sweet Country Melodies” and “The Dutchess of Hazard” caught critical attention and a warm reception in Americana radio which led to playing shows with BR-549, John Doe, Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriguez, Jesse Sykes, and the Greencards. Parks’ songs of longing and redemption are welded together with melodies that stay with you long after they leave the room. Parks is currently in the process of recording a new album, tracked live at The Wallflowers’ LA studio.
Matt The Electrician w/ John Elliott
Tickets: $15 advance, $18 at the door.
Sorry, this show is completely sold out! No tickets will be released at the door.
Once upon a time, there was a young man named Matt Sever. He lived in Austin, TX, and he worked as a journeyman electrician. Every morning, when it was still dark outside, he would go to work, and wire houses all day long in the blistering Texas heat. When he would come home, again, it was dark outside. And then, sometimes, with no time to shower or change his clothes, he would go straight to the bars and nightclubs of Austin to play his songs for whomever would listen. And he would apologize for his appearance, and explain to the audience that he was an electrician, and he found a certain nobility in this, even if no one wanted to sit too close to the stage. So they called him Matt The Electrician, and he did not mind this, for he was proud of himself, for there is no shame in a hard days work.
But eventually, he quit his job as an electrician, to spend more time writing and playing songs, and the name stuck with him, because everyone needs an electrician sometimes. And there are some who say, that when the moon is full, and Jupiter is aligned with Mars, you can often hear Matt The Electrician in the distance, wiring a house, and whistling softly to himself.
Born and raised in Minnesota and now living in California, John Elliott has been releasing albums and performing in every type of venue you can imagine since 2006. His Honda Civic currently has 241,722 miles on it and is named Glen. His songs have been prominently heard on “Grey’s Anatomy,” “One Tree Hill,” and “Californication.” He has been featured in PASTE Magazine, on NPR and on Neil Young’s “Living With War” website. His music has a cult-like international following and artists worldwide cover his songs. You can hear his music anywhere and everywhere if you’re in the right place at the right time: on the radio, TV, and Internet; in cars and around campfires. John remains an independent, unsigned and unaffiliated artist and he is proud of that fact. He continues to make a living and build a dedicated following the old fashioned way: one new believer at a time.
Bruce Molsky w/ Jim Miller
Sorry, this show is completely sold out! No tickets will be released at the door.
However, seating is unlimited for our multi-camera HD webcast! Purchase access at the link below before showtime to tune in.
http://www.emptysea.com/television
Bruce Molsky stands today as one of the premier old-time fiddlers in the world, a defining virtuoso of Appalachia’s timeless folk music traditions. That must feel odd for a former engineer from the Bronx, who didn’t begin a music career until he was forty. But folded into those strange facts is the secret to his unique genius.
In addition to a prolific solo career, performing on fiddle, guitar, and banjo, Molsky frequently joins genre-busting supergroups, like the Grammy-nominated Fiddlers Four, and Mozaik, with Hungarian Nikola Parov, and Celtic giant Donal Lunny. He was on Nickel Creek’s farewell tour, and performs in a trio with Scottish fiddler Aly Bain and Sweden’s great Ale Moller.
“Playing in these kinds of groups is an important part of what I do,” Molsky says. “Regionalism was one of the hallmarks of traditional music in the old days; now we’re in the Information Age, and I don’t think that’s what folk music does anymore. But the more cultures I discover, the more I realize that folk music performs the same function for everybody; and therefore is the same thing everywhere – just spoken with different accents.”
Molsky was born in the Bronx in 1955, and fell in love with old-time music as a teenager. He moved to Virginia in the ’70s, learning directly from old masters like Tommy Jarrell, and seeing how the music fit into people’s lives.
“It was only the older people, of Tommy’s generation, who still had the music as part of their everyday existence,” Molsky says. “At first, I wanted to live like that; but then I realized I didn’t want to claim the culture as my own – I just loved the music.”
That personal authenticity deeply informs his music. Whether performing an ancient reel from Virginia, a Swedish waltz, or a loping cowboy ballad, Molsky presents himself as exactly who he is. Rob Simons, executive director of the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis, says that’s the key to Molsky’s enormous appeal as a live performer: “He’s that unique blend of virtuoso and humble, nice guy that is irresistible to audiences.”
Perhaps that’s how he discovered the real secret to the humble genius of traditional music: that it’s real people’s music; the honest expression of life as we all live it. You don’t master that by imitating others, nor by trying to live in other people’s worlds. You master it by being yourself; and at that profoundly simple and profoundly difficult musical art, Molsky is truly old-time’s master craftsman.
“I’m still a social musician,” he says, “in the sense that I talk to an audience the way I talk to people in my house; and I play for them just like we’re all in the living room together. I want to present myself as who I am; and this music as what it is. The biggest lesson from changing careers at mid-life is that you discover the strength is not in what you do; it’s in who you are.”
Jim Miller has been performing traditional and country music for decades (he and Bruce played in a band together in 1975), but his recording career dates back even further! At 8 years old Jim sang soprano and toured the Canadian Prairies with the Saskatoon Boys Choir. Thirty years later he co-founded the roots-based band Donna the Buffalo. He toured with that band for 15 years, performing across the US at festivals such a Bonnaroo, Rhythm & Roots, and Telluride. In addition to five CDs with DTB, Jim has recorded with Tim O’Brien, Jim Lauderdale, Ginny Hawker, Carol Elizabeth Jones, Dirk Powell, and Tara Nevins. He also writes books about moths and butterflies, and played electric guitar with Louisiana legend Preston Frank as a member of Big Daddy Zydeco.
Artist Spotlight: The Haunted Windchimes
Interview by Heather Askeland
The Haunted Windchimes sound draws from traditional folk and American roots music. The songs have a vintage quality, as if they might have been written yesterday or 75 years ago. Grounded in honeyed harmonies and spirited pickin’, it lies in a nowhere land between distinct styles: It’s not quite bluegrass or blues or country. Still, there are elements of all those in songs that paint pictures of empty train stations and nights of passing a jug of moonshine around. It’s the vocal harmonies that really set them apart, a three-headed juggernaut of Desirae Garcia (ukulele), Chela Lujan (banjo) and Inaiah Lujan (guitar). The sound is often moody and melancholy, but it is always deeply affecting. That sound is embroidered by the instrumental mastery of Mike Clark (harmonica, guitar and mandolin) and the standup bass foundation of Sean Fanning.
The Haunted Windchimes are a group of talented young musicians hailing from Pueblo, Colorado. Their original songs deftly blend blues, folk, bluegrass, country, and some unnamable ingredient that keeps audiences nationwide coming back for more. In October they appeared on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion, and this Wednesday they’ll play the Empty Sea stage. Band front man Inaiah Lujah took a quick break from the road to delve into the Windchimes’ history, musical and topographical influences, and their unique fusion of sounds both traditional and new.
If The Haunted Windchimes were a homemade aural dish, what would be the musical ingredients?
I love this question! I’ve always felt like making good music is like making a good stew or soup. Our ingredients would be rural folk and delta Blues mixed with jazz, and three-part harmonies a la the Carter family with Gypsy seasoning.
What is the story behind your band’s inception and name?
Desirae and I are the founding members of the group. We started this band in 2006 shortly after a conversation about my parents’ mysterious wind chimes that would chime without a hint of wind. I was convinced they were haunted. It was a little different musically in the beginning, but our duo had a certain spark. Desi and I were in love and still are to this day. I wrote most of the tunes then, and Desi would find these great harmonies and sing with me. We made our first album that Halloween, Ballad of the Winds, a home recording full of minor ballads and haunting melodies. The following summer we put a tour together following a route that I had hitchhiked a few years earlier, counting on the kindness of people we’d meet to house us and help with shows. We made it to Bloomington Indiana where we met some new friends and got introduced to the music of Ramblin’ Jack Elliott for the first time; this paired with a trip through the southern states began to have a heavy influence on our songwriting. Upon our return home to Pueblo, my sister Chela (returning from her own adventures out west) joined the group adding the third vocal part we have become known for. A trip to Hawaii introduced us to the magical world of the ukulele, and Desi fell in love with the baritone ukulele and taught herself how to play it. Chela later picked up the banjo and we performed and toured around as a trio for a little over a year. Sean was next to join the group after seeing our trio perform at a bar in Pueblo. I knew of Sean’s amazing talent and when he auditioned for the group it was instant chemistry. The final piece of our group came about through a mutual friend. Adam Leech (who owns a vintage clothing and record store in Colorado Springs) invited us to his annual Leechpit BBQ to perform. There we met Mike Clark’s band The Jack Trades, a blues duo that we immediately fell in love with. We joined them for a few songs and became quick friends. Mike would come to all of our shows and it became a staple to invite him up on stage to accompany us on harmonica. Eventually we invited him up for all the songs and he joined our group shortly thereafter.
All five band members hail from the steel town of Pueblo, Colorado; does Pueblo influence your sound and if so, how?
Pueblo is surrounded by all the elements for a good folk song. Train tracks, rivers and mountains and the industrial architecture are definite inspirations for songs. All of the above are common themes you’ll hear in our music.
It sounds like you’ve been involved in music since childhood. What first ignited this passion in you?
Chela and I grew up in a very musical home. My mom, a music lover, taught us young about the Beatles and Bob Dylan amongst others. My dad studied flamenco guitar in college and when we became interested in learning to play there was always a guitar around the house to fiddle with. My first love was the piano and I gravitated to it at the age of 3… it wasn’t until I was 12 that I took up the guitar. We always sang with our mom. Desi, an army brat, traveled the world with her family doing everything from ballet to show choir and more. Sean played in orchestras and jazz bands growing up and took more of a traditional approach in his early years. Mike Clark, a former pro trials rider, discovered music later in life and was gifted his first guitar at age 27. He is 33 now and sort-of a freak of nature. He’s since taught himself how to play multiple instruments including mandolin, violin, concertina and banjo.
How did you come to cover the work of blues great Leadbelly? Can you speak about your band’s relationship to his music?
I actually discovered Leadbelly thanks to the Nirvana unplugged album and their amazing version of Where Did You Sleep Last Night. I played the song for my music teacher (an old friend of our family) and he showed me the original performed by Leadbelly. It was years before I really appreciated the Leadbelly version and there came a time when Leadbelly was all I would listen to. Studying every note and line he sang and trying to match his rhythms taught me so much. It became an obsession, like Dylan and Hank Williams were for me earlier in my life. We cover his songs to pay homage really.
What do you find yourself listening to most on your Ipod these days?
We’ve been listening to a lot of Otis Redding lately, and the old Stacks and Motown recordings have definitely popped up as inspiration, especially with Mike. Desi has been on a Nina Simone and Billie Holiday kick for quite sometime… I’ve kind-of been diving into all of the solo Paul McCartney and Wings stuff and generally we mostly listen to a lot of our friends’ bands and others we’ve met traveling.
How has the band’s sound changed since its birth in 2006?
The sound has evolved, our music grows as we grow… We’ve become so comfortable playing music with one another the processes become more natural, like breathing. It’s an exciting ride.
ThorNton Creek
Tickets: $10 advance, $14 at the door.
Click here to purchase advance tickets.
ThorNton Creek (acoustic) is the honed-down version of the full band ThorNton Creek. Thornton Bowman’s lyrics and wistful Southern voice are at the heart, and listening to them in this form accentuates the lyrics and the stories. Bowman grew up in Virginia near the Tennessee border. Many of his songs have a Southern, front porch feel. The band began performing in 1996 shortly after Bowman released his solo album In the Kitchen of the Blacksmith. His music has been used in several documentaries and around very many kegs and at least once in a Playboy video.
ThorNton Creek (acoustic) features Thornton Bowman (songwriter, vocals, guitar) and Don Miller (guitar, mandola, cigar box creations, vocals).
About In the Kitchen of the Blacksmith, the Rocket said:
“…if you like Neil Young, Bowman will have you beaming. The man isn’t a clone by any means, but there’s enough in his voice to get you harking back to old Neil’s acoustic work. As far as his writing goes, the songs are a much more slippery beast, lyrically dense, sometimes even serpentine, uncoiling soul the way a good song should and that little kernel of truth, the way the best songwriters should.” (Chris Nickson)
About Whiskey, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer says:
“…ThorNton Creek has been a reminder of the days when Seattle clubs were ablaze with good-time country rock ‘n’ roll. A good song, a danceable beat and some hot licks are the recipe for all the 14 tracks on the band’s new release, “Whiskey.” Thornton Bowman sings in a straightforward high tenor reminiscent of Country Joe McDonald. His vocals are sweetened by MJ Bishop’s harmonies. Don Miller’s versatile guitar playing ranges from the laid-back swing of “Laugh Away,” the roots rock of “Mind Like a Window,” to “New One’s” psychedelic fire.” (Bill White)
The Honeycutters
Tickets: $13 advance, $15 at the door.
Click here to purchase advance tickets.
The Honeycutters are singer/songwriter Amanda Anne Platt and guitarist/ producer Peter James. While their sound has drawn comparisons to such artists as Graham Parsons and Emmylou Harris or Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Platt and James produce a refreshingly unique blend of Americana music that is comfortingly familiar while being entirely original. Ω
Their first full length studio release Irene (May 2009) was recorded at Asheville’s own Collapseable Studio, and mixed by Grammy Award winning sound engineer David Fergason ( Nashville TN ) . The album has garnered radio support across the USA as well as overseas, and landed them in Iaan Hughes’ (No Depression Podcast) top twenty of 2009, Fret Knot Radio Hour’s “Nine to Know from ’09″, and as number 32 in WNCW’s listener voted top 100.
Amanda Anne Platt has been hailed as “one of the best songwriters coming out of WNC these days” by WNCW programming director Martin Anderson, and her voice has been described as “perfectly unadorned” and “recklessly beautiful”. Her lyrics are as catchy and heartbreaking as her melodies. Dane Smith of Asheville NC’s Mountain Xpress writes “Her songs make you sad…in a good way!” In both her simple composition and honest delivery it’s easy to hear the influence of country legends such as Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, or Loretta Lynn, and with this Miss Platt credits growing up listening to her Father’s extensive record collection every Saturday morning. Despite her love for classic country, she cites Bruce Springstein as one of her biggest influences and her songwriting carries a wit and an edge that plants her firmly in her generation.
Peter James is rapidly becoming one of Western North Carolina’s most sought after guitar players, known for both insightful solos and tasteful accompaniment. Having first held a guitar at age thirteen, he quickly started making up for lost time by delving completely into the instrument. His natural talent and attention to detail made him an asset to The Slant Six Cowboys, a New Hampshire based group founded by James and singer/songwriter Don Witcher out of their long time musical collaboration. In 2004 they released a self-titled album on 95 North records which reached number 14 on the AMA chart. Since moving to Asheville in 2006 James has played right-hand man to several of the region’s top acts, including Taylor Martin and Brian McGee.
Like so many of country music’s great duos, Platt and James have a musical chemistry that can be felt throughout the songs they play, from the sounds of their guitars to their vocal harmonies. Perhaps this is why they are frequently mentioned along with the movement to “Take country music back to it’s roots”. The Honeycutters are just doing what they know how to do: making music that feels as good to hear as it does to play. Their original brand of Americana has proven equally appealing to both the musician and the music lover, the country and the city, and the old and the young.
“If anyone can make this old metalhead want to whip out the cowboy boots and hat, order a couple of Budweisers and spin my woman around the dance floor, the Honeycutters can.” -Brent Fleury, Bold Life Magazine
“Old school country in the truest sense, “Irene” is free of twang and ten-gallon hats but full of real emotion, family history, quick wit and strong liquor.” -Ali Marshall, Arts and Entertainment, Mt Xpress
“Amanda Anne Platt is easily one of the best songwriters coming out of Western NC these days, and she really needs to be discovered by the national Americana world. Her moving delivery, accompanied by Pete James’ tasteful guitar work and harmonies, make The Honeycutters an act that really should not be missed. We can’t stop playing their CD “Irene” here at WNCW!” – Martin Anderson, Music Director WNCW
Toy Box Trio CD Release Party w/ God’s Favorite Beefcake, Bakelite 78
Showtimes: 7.00 PM w/ God’s Favorite Beefcake, 9.00 PM w/ Bakelite 78.
Tickets:$13 advance, $15 at the door for either show (tickets sold separately)
Click here to purchase advance tickets.
The Toy-Box Trio presents “…charmingly quirky music that shifts from whimsical to creepy, from lullabies to marches. It is the soundtrack to a forgotten circus, a broken childhood memory, a magic music box full of dust and wonder.” (Sarah Shay, Jew-ish.com).
Founded in 2007 by classical composer Harlan Glotzer, the Toy-Box Trio is devoted to helping audiences experience through-composed music in an entirely different way. The pairing of concertina, toy piano, and tuba is reminiscent of the classical piano trio—a staple in chamber repertoire—but able to extend into the 21st century by creating a sonic landscape evocative of dusty old music boxes and haunted carnivals. Jordan Block of Sepiachord describes the trio’s sound as “…markedly intimate retro-future circus music, transforming baroque sounds into a stranger version of ‘The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy’.” Toy-Box Trio is committed to approaching time-worn ideas and concepts from unexpected, non-traditional, and rarely-used angles. The trio fills the space between carnivals, circuses, and classical chamber ensembles, creating a light and fanciful sonic atmosphere.
The Toy-Box Trio is at home in venues ranging from concert halls to cabaret clubs to street corners, and performs for a diverse audience including families, steampunks, and symphony-goers. Previous performances include the Seattle International Cabaret Festival, Steamcon, and the University District Street Fair, as well as various stages and art galleries throughout the Puget Sound region. Aside from stage performances, the Toy-Box Trio has been featured on KEXP’s “Sonarchy Radio” and has made a live television appearance on the Seattle Channel’s “Art Zone with Nancy Guppy”. Sepiachord has commissioned two separate pieces from Toy-Box Trio for the CD compilations The Sepiachord Companion and The Sepiachord Passport. Music from the trio’s self-titled EP creates the backdrop for Philadelphia’s Olde City Sideshow and provides the soundtrack for various films including My Lucy Charm and Back Ally.
For the 7.00 show, the Toy Box Trio is joined by God’s Favorite Beefcake, the illegitimate musical offspring of singer/songwriter Shmootzi the Clod (a.k.a. Drew Keriakedes) and bassist Meshuguna Joe (a.k.a. Joseph Albanese), formerly of Seattle’s Circus Contraption performance troupe. Joined by a rag-tag ensemble of skilled musicians —on guitar, musical saw, banjo, fiddle, harmonica, and spoons — the two eccentrics serve up a rich stew of Americana and old-time music, seasoned with a dash of tango and a dollop of old-school country. The band’s maniacal live shows combine sideshow theatrics with toe-tapping original tunes. Did someone say sword-swallowing? God’s Favorite Beefcake is living proof that old circus habits die hard.
In the 9.00 show, The Toy Box Trio welcomes Bakelite 78.
