There’s a time when distinctions between categories fade and what matters is whether music stirs the deepest part of our being. Erika Luckett and Lisa Ferraro's music reaches deep into the heart and caresses, inspires and wakes us up to what is most extraordinary within. Each artist possesses remarkable skills, and together a synergy emerges that goes beyond the sum of two voices and one guitar.
Though their music defies traditional classification (jazz, funk, blues, folk, sacred, world, pop, Latin,) it moves beyond these familiar boxes and offers a fresh, intoxicating expression. Call it “Sonic Nourishment” or “New Music for a New Millenium.” It’s simply extraordinary music for these extraordinary times.
Together, they have forged a sound that is touching listeners around the planet. Global visionary and author, Paul Hawken, describes their music as “a direct transmission into song.” On the island of Kauai, KKCR DJ KamranTabatabai calls them “Goddesses on the run.” Though you can hear their music recorded, there is nothing better than a live experience.
Don't miss it!
Featured on NPR's "All Things Considered" and Garrison Keillor's "Prairie Home Companion" Caroline Herring
Caroline Herring is a Mississippi-born artist whose music has been hailed for combining traditional folk and bluegrass sounds with striking, original observations of modern life and love. Thoroughly steeped in southern culture, Herring began her music career in Austin, where she released her first album, “Twilight,” and won Best New Artist in both the Austin American Statesman and Austin Chronicle in 2002. Since that time, Herring has built an international following and released three more albums, including the masterpiece “Golden Apples of the Sun.” Herring’s album “Lantana” (2008) received widespread acclaim as an alt-country masterpiece. The Austin Chronicle proclaimed it to be “the best modern Southern Gothic album since Lucinda Williams’ Sweet Old World,” and NPR named it one of the “ten best folk albums of 2008.”
“It's not easy being a great folksinger -- Kate Wolf, Linda Thompson, and Iris DeMent are some of the names on the short list, but ‘Golden Apples of the Sun’ makes a strong case for the addition of Caroline Herring.” -- Jim Allen, All Music Guide
"Herring's vocals are clear and lovely, evoking the classic voices of Baez, Collins, and Mitchell, yet grounded in the country dirt of Gillian Welch, Lucinda Williams, and Eliza Gilkyson." -Dirty Linen Magazine
Nothing you read and nothing you hear from her albums
prepares you for how good a performer she is. Cheryl Wheeler "ADVANCED TICKET PURCHASE HIGHLY RECOMMENDED"
If your idea of a folk singer/songwriter concert is a bunch of people clapping politely after songs, and then sitting quietly while the performer says things like "This next song is about ...", well, you've never seen a Cheryl Wheeler concert before.
Cheryl's concerts are more like what you would find at a comedy club than expect to find at a folk music concert. She will tell a story that has you rolling in the aisles, and then sing a song that leaves you wiping tears from your eyes. She will talk about some serious current event, and then sing a song that will have you howling with laughter. Her entire concert is a emotional roller coaster.
You may not be familiar with Cheryl, but you have probably heard her music. She is very respected as a songwriter by her peers, which can be seen by how many of them record her songs. Chery's songs have been covered by artists as diverse as Dan Seals, Peter Paul and Mary, Kenny Loggins, Garth Brooks, Suzy Boggus, Melanie, Bette Midler, Maura O'Connell, Sylvia, Kathy Mattea, and Holly Near. If they think she is great, then you owe it to yourself to learn more if you aren't familiar with her.
Cheryl Wheeler has to be seen to be appreciated.
"...songs go beyond the heartfelt, almost spiritual." Jam Magazine Fran Snyder
Fran Snyder is a solid entertainer who can command a crowd with just a microphone and his acoustic guitar. Armed with great original songs, surprising cover tunes, and more than a handful of humor, Fran knows how to connect with even the most informal audience.
He's played colleges, clubs, and mainstages all over the US, touring extensively as a solo act, as well as part of the "acoustic hip-hop duo" Six Strings and Vinyl. On the mainstage, he has opened for many of his heroes, including Shawn Mullins, Shawn Colvin, Don Henley, Peter Stuart, Dan Fogelberg, Cowboy Junkies, and Boz Scaggs.
Fran is also the founder of concertsinyourhome.com, a website dedicated to promoting house concerts all over the world (but mostly in US and Canada).
On selected Sundays of each month, Lane Gosnay, founder of The Bugle Boy, hosts an afternoon PERFORMANCE SHOWCASE as a forum for aspiring performing songwriters.
Consisting of both state and national acts, performers have ten minutes each to make The Bugle Boy stage their own. Each act performs two original songs, and a panel of 3 judges chooses three finalists. These three are invited back to the stage at the end of the afternoon to perform one more song, and the judges select one winner. Performers are judged in six different areas: songwriting, vocal performance, playing ability, stage presence, entertainment skills and audience response.
"A voice and songs this strong are bound to perservere."--Dallas Morning News
Beth Wood is a modern-day troubadour with a stunning voice, poetic lyrics, and strong guitar stylings. Soulful, organic, free-range, barefoot, high-energy communication of joy. Winner of 2005 Kerrville New Folk Contest.
"Beth will be celebrating the September release of her new CD, "The Weather Inside", produced by Billy Crockett at the renowned Blue Rock Studio in Wimberley, TX. Joining Beth will be her friend Nathan Brown, singer-songwriter and award-winning poet from Oklahoma.
Joining Kellye Gray tonight will be:
Pamela York on piano
Chris Maresh on bass
& Scott Laningham on drums
With her renowned, brilliant use of voice as instrument, the Queen of Cool--jazz singer Kellye Gray--has entertained dignitaries, heads-of-state, and shared stages with an impressive constellation of international jazz, blues and R&B stars during a recording career spanning twenty years.
The San Francisco Examiner called her 'a musically most imaginative tour de force.' Described as 'stunning scat singing, instrumental simulations and dark-toned balladry' by the Los Angeles Times, Gray creatively uses her voice as part of the ensemble. JazzTimes magazine calls her 'an impressive, indeed frighteningly vast talent.'
Before her self-discovery as a jazz artist she was doing stand-up and troupe comedy with Sam Kinison and Bill Hicks. A showman at heart, Gray mines the depths and heights of music and entertainment. 'Simply the most exciting singer to debut' says USA Today.
SYNOPSIS
When I Rise is about a gifted black music student at the University of Texas is thrust into a civil rights storm that changes her life forever. Barbara Smith Conrad is cast in an opera to co-star with a white male classmate, fueling a racist backlash from members of the Texas legislature. When Barbara is expelled from the cast, the incident escalates to national news, prompting unexpected support from a pop superstar.
This small-town girl, whose voice and spirit stem from her roots in East Texas, emerges as an internationally celebrated mezzo-soprano and headlines on stages around the world.
When I Rise is an inspirational journey toward finding forgiveness within oneself.
Dr. Don Carleton, Executive Producer of When I Rise, and Executive Director of the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin, will introduce the film and will be available for a Q. and A. following the screening.
"If a group of scientists conducted an experiment combining the DNA of Tom Petty, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, and Bob Dylan…they’d discover they needn’t have bothered, as the result is already with us in the form of Alex Woodard. Hailing from San Diego, Alex rampages through the crossroads of Country, Americana and rock." -- Voices of Country
A singer-songwriter and surfer, Alex shrugs off the "fancy bio" written by the music industry publicist out to impress. "The truth is, my story isn’t any different from your story. The names might not be the same, the events probably took place on off days, and the exact times don’t quite line up. You call your experience one thing, I call it another. But at the end of the day, just after you close your eyes but before you fall asleep, I’m pretty sure your world takes on the same color as mine. Your struggles and triumphs are unique because they come from your voice. But the stories belong to all of us, all part of the same conversation, just with different names. I write songs about that conversation."
"Gloriously smoky and vivid country-rock...A total treat." -- Jersey Beat Mason Reed
Mason Reed has a story to tell. A story filled with broken hearts, bad luck, bloody concrete, rotten chances, ghosts, devils, witches, and women your mother warned you about. When you listen to his music, you can hear something special happening. Reed’s new five-song EP, “You Can’t Come Back From Heaven,” featuring his unique, soul-filled, smoky voice, is evidence that the singer-songwriter genre still has a few tricks up its sleeve, and that real Americana music hasn’t been fluffed over with soft, computer-generated guitar sounds and auto-tuned pop punk vocals.
This talented young singer-songwriter – he’s been writing music since he was five – is so serious about his art that he considers it his religion and his lyrics smack of poetry from a published work. Yet, instead of publishing his words as a book of verse, he wraps them with his music and sings to the heart the way of many modern troubadours from Bruce Springsteen to Tom Waits. The OC Metro said Reed, “is a highly-gifted musician born of Van Morrison and Bob Dylan.”
“You can really feel the grit and emotion in Mason Reed’s vocals and lyrics on his latest EP. His songs are very powerful and delivered very organically with a sound that is unparalleled. …you can feel all the pain, frustration, confusion, anger and every other emotion that is pulsing through Reed as he sings. As familiar as he is unique, Mason Reed is one to watch.” – This Is Modern
Stephanie Bettman might be considered a triple threat. An accomplished writer, she infuses her music with wit and wisdom, exploring many facets of the human heart. Stephanie’s songs are sometimes sad, sometimes sassy, but always spellbinding. As a vocalist, she moves effortlessly from her up-tempo bluegrass originals (featuring her fiery fiddling), to a soothing honey-sweet ballad, to a rousing passionate anthem. While her first-rate fiddling combines elements of bluegrass and jazz, in her essence there is tribute to such masters as Stephane Grappelli, Byron Berline, and Johnny Gimble. Her debut CD “Get Close To Me” received national radio play while reaching the top ten in the Folk DJ chart, and her interpretation of Deford Bailey’s rare gem “Evening Prayer Blues” was the sixth most played song of the month.
“A fiddle playing charmer with a set of pipes she knows how to use and a gift of gab that regularly amuses her audience.” – Jessie Lilley, Mondo Cult Magazine
Inspired by the likes of Sam Bush, Tony Rice, and Mark O’Connor, Luke Halpin’s perfectly blended harmonies and his instrumental expertise together with Stephanie’s artistry and performance make for a dynamic experience audiences are discovering from coast to coast. Luke was formerly a member of the band Fanny Grace. With them, he worked all over the country opening for such musical heavyweights as Merle Haggard, Lone Star and The Steve Miller Band. His instrumentals have received national television placements, and now in concert with Stephanie, Luke has the opportunity to share some of his original songs as well. Together, Stephanie Bettman & Luke Halpin have been regulars at some of LA’s best listening rooms including The Coffee Gallery Backstage, as well as the California Traditional Music Society’s concert series, and BASC’s annual Taste Of Folk Festival and monthly concert series.
“I knew all about his instrumental prowess… but I never had heard Luke's tremendous voice.” – Petered out, blogspot
"She delivers the truth of her music through a voice that is at minimal angelic and can be best described as viscerally intoxicating." lg
On January 28th, 2010 the La Grange Mayor Janet Moerbe presented Ms. Wills with a key to the city and if that wasn't enough, by proclamation, Fayette County Judge, Ed Janecka declared January 28th Elizabeth Wills day in Fayette County.
Elizabeth Wills is a confessional songwriter with a musical force that presses Americana pop music to discover its highest self. Her draw comes from her pure accessibility and the emotional connection she makes with her listener by delivering her songs through a voice that is at minimal angelic and can be best described as viscerally intoxicating.
"The crowd was hers from the start...Her lush voice calls to mind female singer/songwriter greats such as Carly Simon, Shawn Colvin and Sarah McLachlan. " Jenny Block - Dallas Morning News
Elizabeth Wills's latest release, "Love Comes Home" CD was made possible by The Bugle Boy Foundation Talent Trust. Read more about Elizabeth and the Talent Trust here All proceeds from tonight's show benefit a future Talent Trust recipient.
"LaFave is nothing if not a red–dirt romantic. Viewing the world from an open road and an open heart, with one eye on the girl and the other on the mythological lure of the highway. First it was Woody Guthrie and then Jack Kerouac, now it’s LaFave and his brand of dirty–boots folk–rock... Jimmy has the most expressive voice this side of Belfast... it’s the music of Jimmy LaFave that really defines this part of the land.” –– Oklahoma City Gazette
“LaFave has a voice that somehow combines innocence and pain so effectively that it allows LaFave to wring more emotion from a ballad than perhaps anyone ever has. When he rocks, he does so with complete abandon. When he chronicles love, it’s with complete immersion. There is no pretense in him.”
–– Martin Fullington – Music Reviews Quarterly
"He Said - She Said" is the new inspired show featuring a collaboration of original songs by Peter Karp and Sue Foley. The project is based around a correspondence the two shared through letters that were written over a year period. These letters started as a casual exchange between two committed performers sharing their common bond of the loneliness of the road, the pain of separation from family and home and above all, the drive to make music. But as time went on the letters they shared became more poignant, more revealing. Those letters became their songs. The result is "He Said - She Said." The show features songs of two artists in development, sharing artistic purpose and spiritual kinship in a meeting of hearts and minds. Whether they're performing as an acoustic duo or with their electric band the music encompasses elements of folk, jazz, flamenco, and blues resulting in a show that is moving, literate, romantic, rocking and exciting.
Blues Revue Magazine says " 'He Said - She Said' is a unique, daring idea beautifully executed by two talented, inspired artists unafraid to express themselves in songs of hope, longing, emptiness, love and frustration. A masterpiece."
On selected Sundays of each month, Lane Gosnay, founder of The Bugle Boy, hosts an afternoon PERFORMANCE SHOWCASE as a forum for aspiring performing songwriters.
Consisting of both state and national acts, performers have ten minutes each to make The Bugle Boy stage their own. Each act performs two original songs, and a panel of 3 judges chooses three finalists. These three are invited back to the stage at the end of the afternoon to perform one more song, and the judges select one winner. Performers are judged in six different areas: songwriting, vocal performance, playing ability, stage presence, entertainment skills and audience response.
Billy Crockett has been a featured BMI songwriter at Austin's SXSW Music Festival, Artist-in-Residence at the Academy of Gospel Music Arts, and a guitar clinician for Yamaha International. Until this century, Billy had recorded nine acclaimed solo albums and had toured internationally for 25 years. After a nine-year hiatus, he returned with the release of "Wishing Sky." Merging a love of Texas soul, classical precision, and gospel music roots, Billy brings his remarkable acoustic guitar instincts and lyric observation into the mainstream. His concerts are flights of joy, irreverence, world class chops, humor, stories, and original songs.
Grace Pettis--the daughter of Pierce Pettis--is a 21-year-old singer/songwriter from Alabama who now lives and performs in Austin, Texas. She released her first, self-titled album on October 18th, 2009, recorded at Blue Rock Studios and produced by Billy Crockett. In 2009, Grace won "Best Song" at the Mountain Stage New Song competition for her song "Nine to Five Girl." This year, she was the Wildflower Performing Songwriter 2010 Winner & People's Choice Winner. Sara Hickman recently chose to cover one of Grace's songs, the moving "Love Is There," after hearing Grace perform it during the Bugle Boy's Sunday Showcase.
rare solo performance Molly Venter newest member of Red Molly
Pairing creative hooky melodies, smart lyrics, and a voice that stops listeners in their tracks, Molly Venter successfully combines Alternative Folk Pop with strong undertones of Soul, Gospel and a hint of Country. Molly's voice is undeniably compelling; drawing comparisons to Tracy Chapman, Fiona Apple, Natalie Merchant and Patty Griffin. She infuses soulful passion and a gutsy edge to her rich, textured lower tones. As written in American Songwriter Magazine; "Few singers turn first time listeners into eternal fanatics as effortlessly as Molly Venter. . .Her voice is like an unbelievable Burgundy; many notes, flavors, fragrances, and it all goes down like silk."
Once she has drawn listeners in with her vocals and melodies, Venter wins over fans with the depth of her writing. Her insightful, creative lyrics follow in the tradition of Folk greats like Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan. Looking at the world through the lens of relationship -- romantic, familial and personal -- Venter manages to find a narrative that is raw, curious and self-aware without being blaming or self-deprecating.
"It's Americana with a bruised black eye." -- Austin Music + Entertainment Magazine Dustin Welch
Raised among the sons and daughters of songwriters, fiddle players, guitarists, banjo dobro piano players, publishers, song pluggers, hippie kids from Gaskin's Farm, painters, pot throwers, and potgrowers, Dustin Welch drank deep. Probably inspired largely by his early exposure to Bela Fleck's evolutionary approach to the banjo, Dustin began devising a unique style of his own. Bare-fingered, open tuning, Appalachian flavored grooves and melodies coupled with literate lyrics, strange and beautiful, and the songs kept coming.
One evening in 2006, Dustin was playing in the house band for a tribute to Townes Van Zandt at the venerable old Belcourt Theater in Nashville. The drummer that night was Ken Coomer from Wilco, who told him that he knew a band in San Diego who was looking for a guy like him. Within a week he flew out for an audition and didn't go home for 6 months, touring with the Scotch Greens all over the US and Europe, opening for acts like Reverend Horton Heat and Flogging Molly, playing disciplined slamming shows night after night. By now, Dustin has relocated to Austin, where he now resides. The songs keep coming, and one thing keeps leading to another.
"Songwriting is in Dustin Welch's blood, and, as Whiskey Priest exuberantly demonstrates, he isn't afraid to spill some when necessary." -- Austin Chronicle
Three-Time Austin Music Hall of Fame Inductee Jon Dee Graham
A legend on the Austin music scene, Jon Dee Graham is the subject of a portrait-of-the-artist documentary, Swept Away, which is available nationally on DVD. No Depression magazine called the film, “superb.” Shortly after the films release in the Spring of 2008, Graham survived a one car crash on Texas’ I-35 that claimed his spleen, left him with a zipper scar up his chest, and permanently wreaked havoc on his back and neck. Despite a massive hospital bill – or perhaps because of it – Graham was back at work about one month later at his beloved Continental Club in Austin. He’s barely slowed down since, finding time to write and record his first studio record since 2006 -- and making time to develop a new weekly live residency, Jon Dee and Friends -- whose guests have included Kelly Willis, Alejandro Escovedo, James McMurtry, & Curt Kirkwood amongst others.
It’s Not As Bad As it Looks, Graham's 2010 release, is about -- you guessed it – second chances, hope, sin & redemption, the constant search for higher meaning and a path forward, and trying to walk that fine line life often forces upon you. And it’s all delivered through Jon Dee Graham’s unique prism of pointed lyrics, searing guitar, and arrangements that sway between touching ballads and balls out rock with a punk edge.
