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Originally from Johannesburg, South Africa, Gregory Alan Isakov’s songcraft lends to the deepest lyrical masterpieces.
His family immigrated to the U.S. in opposition to apartheid and settled in the Philadelphia area when he was seven. Isakov moved to Colorado in 1999 to study horticulture and simultaneously embarked on a career as an acoustic singer-songwriter. He soon caught the attention of Americana singer-songwriters Brandi Carlile and Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls, whose interest and collaborations have helped spark his career.
In 2008, the Denver publication Westword named him their Best Acoustic Folk Artist. The previous year he was given the paper’s Best of Denver Singer-Songwriter award; they called him “a rootsier Glen Phillips channeling Kelly Joe Phelps.”
"Strong, subtle, a lyrical genius" – Boulder Weekly
Official Website: www.GregoryAlanIsakov.com
Song Samples: www.MySpace.com/GregoryAlanIsakov
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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 he would go to work and wire houses all day long in the blistering Texas heat. 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. So they called him Matt The Electrician. Eventually, Sever quit his job to spend more time writing and playing songs, but the name stuck.
With heartfelt lyrics, sincere delivery and joyful arrangements, Sever has been a finalist in the Mountain Stage Newsong Festival, The Telluride Bluegrass Festival, and The Rocky Mountain Folks Festival, and won the Texas Grammy Songwriting Contest.
"Sever brings a delightfully different energy to the often hidebound folk scene; electrifies it, actually." -- L.A. Daily News
Official Website: www.MattTheElectrician.com
Song Samples: www.MySpace.com/MattTheElectrician
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The Wailin’ Jennys began as a happy accident in 2002, when three talented artists played together for a one-time-only performance at a guitar shop in Winnipeg. They had such obvious chemistry on stage and enjoyed themselves so immensely that they decided to pursue this new musical union.
The Jennys’ extraordinary voices - soprano Ruth Moody, mezzo Nicky Mehta, and alto Heather Masse - continue to evolve into far more than the melodious sum of their individual talents. Although known primarily as an acoustic outfit, The Jennys have a wide range of musical backgrounds that forge a unified folk-pop sound, all delivered with irresistible vocal power.
A favorite at festivals, theaters and clubs, The Jennys have won fans the world over with their engaging stage presence and impressive musicianship.
"some of the most pitch-perfect, gorgeous harmonies you’re likely to hear." – Review M Magazine, Australia
Official Website: www.TheWailinJennys.com
Song Samples: www.MySpace.com/TheWailinJennys
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So, what's a daisy mayhem?
Wicked percussion, sublime lead singing, great harmonies, sparkling original songs and a deep repertoire. Four people who share an irresistible chemistry on stage. A young, hip, crackerjack string band in love with American music.
Start with a fiddle, a guitar, and a standup bass. Add a cardboard box with a suitcase bass drum and tin can cymbals, played by an ex-rock and zydeco drummer. Over that fine groove, hang Arbo's expressive alto, seamless four-part harmonies, and a splash of banjo and ukulele, and you have it.
The Boston Globe described their music as "neo old-timey with cosmopolitan splashes of contemporary pop and jazz." It's an exuberant mix of musical idioms, held together by superb musicianship, impeccable taste, and the band's charismatic vocals.
The band dips into country blues, vintage swing, modern songwriter fare, and Appalachian fiddle tunes and songs. This is a band that picks up what's lying around - from tin cans to traditional music - and creates something new.
"Explodes with energy and relaxed good humor" -- Vintage Guitar Review
"Playful and profound." -- The Boston Globe
Official Website: www.RaniArbo.com
Song Samples: www.MySpace.com/RaniArbo
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Scottish-born Canadian David Francey is recognized as one of today’s finest singer-songwriters.
Francey's experiences in working-class life strongly influence his music. Other musical themes include admiration of the natural beauty of the Canadian landscape, and traditional folk themes of love and loss.
His 2009 album Seaway is a collaboration with Mike Ford of Moxy Früvous. It is a collection of songs inspired by their two-week voyage on M.S. Algoville, a 750-foot bulk carrier of the Algoma Central Laker fleet. They witnessed firsthand life onboard a working vessel as they sailed from Montreal to Thunder Bay and back along the Saint Lawrence Seaway and the majestic inland sea of the Great Lakes.
Francey has been awarded three Junos and the 2007 SOCAN Folk Music Award, which is given to the member whose works achieved the year’s highest number of performances in domestic radio, pay audio and concerts.
"A consummate craftsman…David Francey is one of the biggest stars of Canadian folk Music" -- SOCAN Words and Music Magazine
Official Website: www.DavidFrancey.com
Song Samples: www.MySpace.com/DavidFrancey
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Amelia Curran is a highly-regarded performer and songwriter from eastern Canada.
Curran started playing guitar and writing songs as a teenager and eventually dropped out of university in order to busk on the streets of her native St. John’s, Newfoundland. Nearly a decade ago, she left home and settled in the mainland city of Halifax, Nova Scotia.
In addition to being a musician, she is also a playwright and actor, and has had her plays performed in fringe festivals.
Curran has been nominated for several East Coast Music Awards, and earlier this year she won the Juno award for Roots and Traditional Album of the Year (Solo) for her latest release, Hunter, Hunter.
"Amelia Curran could very well be a poet, as her lyrical perception borders on unmasked vulnerability and contemplative wistfulness." - Chart Magazine
Official Website: www.AmeliaCurran.com
Song Samples: www.www.MySpace.com/AmeliaCurran
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An expatriate New Yorker now living in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Richard Shindell is a meticulous craftsman of song.
Innovative, original and occasionally spiritual, Shindell's songs weave tales that interchangeably champion the downtrodden, exalt the disaffected or express empathy to those lost to society's fringes.
Shindell’s background is as varied as the characters he sings about. While in college, he formed a band with friend John Gorka. He lived for a while in a Zen Buddhist monastery. He has played for coins in the underground Metro stations of Paris. And he studied philosophy and religion at Union Theological Seminary.
In addition to building a loyal fan base, Shindell has earned overwhelming critical success. He has been called “a master of subtle narrative” by The Wall Street Journal, “a master builder of songs” by The Boston Globe, and has been described as having “the voice of a master” by The Los Angeles Daily News. Richard Shindell: Master, indeed.
"Shindell has uncanny sense of the theater of a song, building his ballads sparely and subtly, set to sweeping graceful melodies." -- The Boston Globe
Official Website: www.RichardShindell.com
Song Samples: www.MySpace.com/RichardShindell
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Too energetic to be labeled just "folk", and not angry enough to be pegged "alternative", Eddie From Ohio defies description with their unique blend of vocals and acoustic instrumentation.
A bedrock foundation of hand and stick percussion and a textural flavoring of guitar / bass / harmonica support the four-part harmonies and lyrically-driven original music.
While this combination has drawn comparisons like the Grateful Dead meets Peter, Paul & Mary, or like Jewel fronts the Barenaked Ladies, EFO fuses a multitude of musical influences to create their own trademark sound. Performing Songwriter writes, "The manic strumminess recalls Ani DiFranco or Dave Matthews, but there's also a deep undercurrent of high, lonesome mountain harmony that should appeal to fans of Alison Krauss and Union Station."
"...tight four-part harmonies, compelling folk-pop rhythms, and capricious lyrics that make light of heavy subjects." — Washington Post
Official Website and Song Samples: www.EddieFromOhio.com
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