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Ana Egge Spring Tour Dates Announced

Spring Headlining Tour + Dates with Iris DeMent and Bella White Announced

4/5    Pinecone Concerts, Raleigh, NC *

4/7    Village Concerts, Lynchburg, VA

5/16  NAC Opera House, Ottawa, Canada

5/17  Caffe Lena, Saratoga Springs, NY

5/18  The Local, Saugerties, NY

5/19  Littlefield, Brooklyn, NY

5/21  Tower Theater, Oklahoma City, OK +

5/23  The Kessler, Dallas, TX +

5/24  The Heights Theater, Houston, TX +

5/25  Kerrville Folk Festival, Kerrville, TX ++

6/1    Lippe HC, Seattle, WA

6/2    Showbar, Portland, OR

6/5    Old Steeple, CA

6/6    Little Saint, Healdsburg, CA

6/7    Lost Church, San Francisco, CA

6/8    Sandbox, Sand City, CA 

6/26 Bearsville Theater, Woodstock, NY +

6/28 Stone Mt. Arts Center, Brownfield, ME +

6/29  Park Theater, Peterborough, NH +

6/30  Wilco's Solid Sound Festival, North Adams, MA ++

8/13  The Ark, Ann Arbor, MI +

8/14  Buskirk Chumley, Bloomington, IN +

8/16  The Bijou, Knoxville, TN +

8/17  The City Winery, Nashville, TN +

8/18  Gunter Theater/Peace Theater, Greenville, SC +

* Support for Bella White

+ Support for Iris DeMent

++ in Iris DeMent's band 

Ana Egge New Album 'Sharing in the Spirit' Coming May 17th

Ana Egge Embraces the Mystical and the Mundane On New Album Sharing in the Spirit, Out May 17th via StorySound Records

Listen to Lead single “Where Berries Grow” HERE

Today, indie folk singer-songwriter Ana Egge announces her new album Sharing in the Spirit out May 17th via StorySound Records. The 10-track album which combines 8 original compositions with covers of songs by Ted Hawkins and Sinéad O'Connor is a mix of politics, addiction, sex, and love. It promises listeners a bold and honest ride, beginning with the album cover, which is an image of a young Ana captured in her childhood town of Ambrose, North Dakota, now a ghost town reclaimed by prairie grass.

Alongside the album announcement, Egge shares "Where Berries Grow," a near-biblical, bluegrass beauty. In each line, Egge explores metaphors representing loved ones, such as a "drink divine," a "stand of trees," and a "dark angel," allowing for deeply personal and spiritual expression. Listen to “Where The Berries Grow” HERE.

Egge reflects on the genesis of the track, sharing:

“I started thinking of each person's name in a new way. I got curious about the meanings of all their names and was inspired by the imagery and poetic connections that arose. All of their earth-body-spirit-stories became, 'Where Berries Grow'.”

Throughout what NPR describes as a “rich career,” Ana has collaborated with esteemed artists such as Billy Strings, Rob Moose (known for his work with Paul Simon, Phoebe Bridgers, and yMusic), Buck Meek (of Big Thief), Steve Earle and has toured extensively with Iris DeMent. Coming out as gay during her teenage years, Ana has navigated hazards stemming from physical, cultural, and political sources. It's through these challenges that she discovered the transformative power of music and its ability to uplift and connect people in seemingly magical ways, leading her to be described as having an “ever-interesting mastery over music” (No Depression). 

Sharing in the Spirit is fueled by Egge’s creative momentum and collaboration with longtime producer and friend, Lorenzo Wolff (Taylor Swift, Bartees Strange, Teddy Thompson). Despite each single maintaining its unique energy, Egge’s distinctive voice as both a writer and singer ensures that they come together beautifully. The opener, "Don’t You Sleep,” is sexy folk slipping into determined noisy garage rock. Meanwhile, "Mission Bells Moan" and her take on Ted Hawkins’ "Sorry You're Sick" delve into themes of alcoholism and sobriety. Throughout the album, Egge's multifaceted talents and diverse musical interests are on full display, showcasing her versatility across genres.

Sharing in the Spirit Track List

Don’t You Sleep 

Door Won’t Close

Sharing In The Spirit

If It Were Up To Me

Mission Bells Moan

Sorry You’re Sick

Where Berries Grow

Ready For The Darkness

Ending We Need

Last Day Of Our Acquaintance

NPR Fresh Air Review: Jim Kweskin and Maria Muldaur Duet from the Album 'Never Too Late'

Music Reviews

New songs by Brittany Howard, Jim Kweskin and Colby T. Helms crackle with energy

Fresh Air's rock critic recommends three songs that transcend age and genre: Howard's "Another Day," Kweskin's duet with Maria Muldaur, "Let's Get Happy Together," and Helms' "Leanne."

Stream the piece HERE

Jim Kweskin Video Debuts on The Bluegrass Situation

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Jim Kweskin’s “You’re Just In Love,” New Single and Video Featuring His Granddaughter Fiona Kweskin Debuts on The Bluegrass Situation.

The track serves as the final preview of his upcoming duets album Never Too Late, slated for release on January 26th via StorySound Records. Celebrating the timeless magic of love, the track puts a folk spin on a classic Irving Berlin penned Broadway melody.

Watch the duo navigate and create new memory lanes in Nashville in the touching video HERE, shot less than a month ago when Jim visited Fiona at her home in Nashville.

Jim Kweskin Extravaganza Career Celebration Concert February 4th in Arlington, MA

Ezzie Films and StorySound Records are pleased to announce The Jim Kweskin Extravaganza at the Regent Theatre located at 7 Medford Street, Arlington, Massachusetts on February 4, 2024 at 2:00 PM.

The Jim Kweskin Extravaganza, a live concert that will honor and celebrate Jim’s legacy and his contributions to the music industry over the past 60 plus years.

The concert will feature songs from Jim’s soon to be released record, on StorySound Records, Never Too Late: Duets with My Friends, which will be released on Friday, January 26, 2024.  The show will also feature artists and songs from Jim’s storied career including the renowned and influential Jim Kweskin Jug Band.  Scheduled to appear as of today’s date along with Jim Kweskin, are Geoff Muldaur, Samoa Wilson, Maria Muldaur, Annie Raines, Paul Rishell, Juli Crockett, Suzy Thompson, and Matthew Berlin.  Additional artists appearing will be announced soon.

Buy Tickets

Barbaro Featured in Minnesota Star Tribune

Out of the bluegrass: Minnesota band Barbaro crafts ethereal new LP with Bon Iver associate

"About the Winter" features a warm new sound from the band, using the same fiddle and banjo as before. 

Barbaro Performance and Interview On WNYC New Sounds

Minneapolis-Based Progressive Bluegrass Band Barbaro, In-Studio

The Minneapolis trio Barbaro grows out of the American bluegrass tradition, but the key words there might be “out of”, as Barbaro doesn’t race through banjo breakdowns and flashy fiddle solos, although they can do those things. The band is something of progressive version of bluegrass – using traditional instrumentation like fiddle and banjo, but drawing inspiration from electronic music and writing songs that may sound pastoral and folky but which often carry a bit of a bite. Barbaro plays new songs from their rootsy chamber music album, About The Winter, and chats about horse racing, in-studio.

Set list: "Subtle Hints", "Gardens", "All My Friends"

Check out the interview and performances HERE

 

Jim Kweskin Announces New Album of Duets 'Never Too Late'

Never Too Late: Jim Kweskin's Timeless Music Continues To Shine On New Album of Duets, Out January 26th via StorySound Records.

Listen To “Let's Get Happy Together,” Lead Single Featuring Longtime Collaborator Maria Muldaur: HERE

Album Release Party Set For February 4th in Home State of Massachusetts

Today, six decades after his first release, folk legend Jim Kweskin announces his new album Never Too Late, out January 26th through StorySound Records. The album features captivating duets with some of his favorite female singers, while simultaneously spotlighting the genre- and generation-hopping nature of Kweskin’s musical interests. Across 18 tracks, Never Too Late suggests a Great American Songbook where Leadbelly’s “Relax Your Mind” precedes the Tin Pan Alley tune “Sheik of Araby,” which leads into 1940’s country hit, “Remember Me.”

To accompany the announcement of Never Too Late, Kweskin shares the bouncy, conversation-like “Let's Get Happy Together” with Maria Muldaur, who first collaborated with him in the 1960s as part of Jim Kweskin & The Jug Band.

Listen to “Let's Get Happy Together” HERE

When discussing the background of the song, Kweskin shares: “I learned this song from Maria Muldaur. We were going to record it together in New Orleans on the album she did with that wonderful New Orleans street band Tuba Skinny. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make the session. While I was putting together the songs and singers for this album, I asked Maria if she would record it with me now. She graciously agreed. The song was written and recorded in 1938 by Lil Hardin Armstrong, who, back in the 1920s, was Louis Armstrong's wife. The funny thing is, it's called ‘Let's Get Happy Together,’ but nowhere in the song do we sing ‘Let's get happy together’—we sing ‘Let's be happy together.’ Lil did too but since she titled it ‘Let's Get Happy Together,’ we did the same.”

In addition to Maria Muldaur, Never Too Late features duets with longtime collaborators Samoa Wilson and Meredith Axelrod, who have released full-length albums with Jim Kweskin. Meanwhile, Rose Guerin and Juli Crockett have been frequent performers at his concerts on both the East and West coasts, and Fiona Kweskin, his granddaughter, lends her vocals to several tracks and has been a recent addition to his live shows.

On several tracks, Kweskin also steps aside from lead vocals, allowing his guests to take center stage. Samoa Wilson delivers a soulful rendition of "Honey in the Rock," and Rose Guerin masterfully interprets Memphis Slim's "Mother Earth." In a particularly poignant moment, "The Lone Pilgrim" showcases the stirring voice of Nell Foote, a dear friend of Kweskin who had never ventured into a recording studio before.

Jim Kweskin recorded Never Too Late in early 2023 at Dimension Sound Studios in Jamaica Plain, MA, near his Boston home base. According to Kweskin, “almost every song on Never Too Late was either the first or second take because everyone was so good and prepared.” Joining Kweskin on this album are fiddler Suzy Thompson, dobro & steel guitar player Cindy Cashdollar, harmonicist Annie Raines, and his regular bassist/producer Matthew Berlin.

Jim Kweskin's music career took off in 1963 when Maynard Solomon, Vanguard Records co-founder, saw him play at Club 47 in Cambridge, MA. Suitably impressed, Solomon offered to record Kweskin, leading him to assemble the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, featuring key members Geoff Muldaur and Fritz Richmond. This unconventional group gained fame with their spontaneous and unscripted performances, in contrast to the formal folk groups of the early 60s. Despite only lasting five years and releasing four studio albums, they left an enduring impact on the music scene. Esteemed critic Ed Ward ranked them among the most important bands of the early 60s, and their influence can be seen in the likes of the Lovin' Spoonful, the Grateful Dead, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks.

To celebrate the release of Never Too Late, The Jim Kweskin Extravaganza will take place at the Regent Theatre in Arlington, MA on February 4, 2024. Find more details here.

Pre-Order Never Too Late HERE

Never Too Late Tracklist

  1. Let’s Get Happy Together - with Maria Muldaur
  2. You’re Just In Love - with Fiona Kweskin
  3. Honey In The Rock - with Samoa Wilson
  4. Mother Earth - with Rose Guerin & Group
  5. Leaving Home (Frankie and Johnny) - with Meredith Axelrod  
  6. Side By Side - with Fiona Kweskin
  7. Sally Don’t You Grieve - with Meredith Axelrod
  8. Never Too Late - with Juli Crockett
  9. Engine 143 - with Samoa Wilson
  10. The Lone Pilgrim - with Nell Foote & Group Choir
  11. Moby Dick - with Juli Crockett
  12. Relax Your Mind - with Rose Guerin
  13. The Sheik Of Araby - with Maria Muldaur
  14. Remember Me - with Samoa Wilson
  15. What Does The Deep Sea Say - with Fiona Kweskin
  16. Live And Let Live - with Juli Crockett
  17. I Ain’t Never Been Satisfied - with Rose, Samoa, & Fiona
  18. The Cuckoo - with Jessie Benton

No Depression Review Barbaro's 'About the Winter'

ALBUM REVIEW: Across ‘About the Winter,’ Barbaro Weaves Big Messages From Small Details
Tom Williams

Minneapolis-based Barbaro mines life’s most intimate and seemingly mundane moments in an attempt to extrapolate larger lessons about life itself and the nature of our fragile existence. Songs like “The Lil Sweaters” and “Apples to Apples,” from their newest album, About the Winter, are illuminated by minutiae like red, swollen fingers; fleeting moments of physical intimacy; and leaving mugs of coffee in the attic.

About the Winter is described in press materials as a “coming-of-age” story. This is apparent on a song like “Apples to Apples,” which details a college dorm argument, but it’s more subtly evident throughout. A sense of characteristically adolescent wide-eyed wonder and curiosity animates some of the LP’s most compelling moments. On “One X One,” fiddle player and vocalist Rachel Calvert asks “If time’s so simple, how’s it so fickle and hazy?” The simplicity and plainspoken nature of the query suggest someone newly emerging from the fog of youthful innocence, learning to confront the starkest realities of this world.

The band’s lyrics depict growing thematic ambition and confidence, as does the leveling-up of their sound from their previous effort, 2020’s Dressed in Roses. Stepping off from their more straightforward bluegrass arrangements, they’ve now added sweeping strings, synths, and electric guitars. It’s a move that invites comparisons to some of indie-folk and folk-rock’s most compelling 21st century artists, Bon Iver and Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst among them.

Across About the Winter, a lot of questions are asked without offering answers. The impact of this is a quietly growing sense of unease that draws contrasts to the reliably lovely soundscapes that the band creates. Testament to this is the LP’s obvious centerpiece, the 7-minute “Subpoena Colada.” The song begins modestly, with finger-picked banjos and evocative and sensory imagery (“Holding this green earth under your thumb”), but darker detours occur throughout. At times, the music dissipates almost entirely, as guitarist and vocalist Kyle Shelstad asks “could it be lost?”, his words delivered with weighty significance. The soundscape alternates between plucky banjo sections a la Buck Meek or Taylor Ashton and desolate string-led passages. The song’s progression, much like life’s, is ever-changing and unpredictable. Maybe our primary task, then, is to learn to roll with the punches and find value in the journey itself.

READ the full review HERE

"Monsters" Essay by Loudon Wainwright III Comes to Life in Short Film

Loudon Wainwright III wrote his essay “Monsters” in 2021 and has been performing it in his live shows for about a year. His friend and longtime music producer Dick Connette felt that the piece should be captured on film and throughout this September and October with the help of Ross Mayfield and Alex Venguer the video “Monsters” was brought to life. It’s a ten minute audio/visual examination of Wainwright’s obsession with monster movies, in particular the classic black and white Universal horror films made in Hollywood in the 1930s and those produced in color in England by Hammer Ltd. in the late 1950s. Wainwright considers these movies a sort of cinematic touchstone that helped him “grapple with his prepubescent psycho-sexual fixations”. He also examines the enhanced humanity that movie monsters paradoxically possess. In addition to Loudon’s serio-comic performance “Monsters” features archival photos and posters, film clips, as well as orchestral music and sound effects.

"Monsters" written and performed by Loudon Wainwright III.

Directed by Dick Connette.
Director of Photography/Editor - Ross Mayfield
Sound Design - Alex Venguer
Mastered by Oscar Zambrano
Assistant Videographer - Samantha Dagnino
Audio Engineer - Colin Mohnacs
Hair and Makeup - Faye Lauren
Filmed and Recorded at GB's Juke Joint. 

Watch the film HERE

Bluegrass Situation Premiere Barbaro's "Gardens" Video. First Single from the Forthcoming Album 'About the Winter'

 “Gardens,” a song that pairs Shelstad’s vulnerable and urgent vocal with the refined, slow-blooming instrumental interplay of his bandmates. Shelstad says: “This tune is one of those that was written quite easily in one sitting about 3 years ago. The goal for the song was for it to be a long crescendo from start to finish.” With his band gathering momentum amid a steady lead instrumental melody, Shelstad takes aim at the powers that reinforce an acquisition-centric, colonial mindset: “The empire is seen, edge of their lawns / hoping all their gardens grow."

Barbaro’s adventurous and expansive vision of pastoral Americana comes into focus on 'About the Winter' out October 20th.

The music video for “Gardens” was created by Lewis Klahr, a Los Angeles-based collage artist who uses found images and sound to explore the intersection of memory and history.

Watch the video at Bluegrass Situation

Barbaro 'About the Winter' Out October 20th on StorySound Records

Barbaro’s Adventurous + Expansive Vision Of Pastoral Americana Comes Into Focus On New Album About the Winter Out October 20 on StorySound Records

Watch The Cut-Up Collage Video For Lead Single“Gardens”

“one of the Midwest’s most in-demand acoustic acts” — Bluegrass Situation

Announce US Tour Dates, Full Dates Below

Today, Barbaro — the burgeoning Minneapolis-based roots group who have become “one of the Midwest’s most in-demand acoustic acts” (Bluegrass Situation) — announces the October 20 release of About the Winter, their debut album for StorySound Records. About the Winter is a beautiful introduction to Barbaro, comprised of Kyle Shelstad (vocals and guitar), Rachel Calvert (vocals and fiddle), and Jason Wells (vocals and bass).

As the band explains, About the Winter reveals “the sacred transfiguration of our many personal and musical influences into something greater than the sum of its parts” and provides a confident expression of Barbaro’s musical evolution. Its pastoral Americana sound feels both traditional and progressive — though they incorporate roots instrumentation, Barbaro’s compositions value texture and gesture over technical prowess. The band works in concert to deliver indelible moments: emotional gut-punches, moments of clarity, and submissions to beauty in the face of overwhelming odds.

Alongside the album announcement, Barbaro shares “Gardens,” a song that pairs Shelstad’s vulnerable and urgent vocal with the refined, slow-blooming instrumental interplay of his bandmates. Shelstad says: “This tune is one of those that was written quite easily in one sitting about 3 years ago. The goal for the song was for it to be a long crescendo from start to finish.” With his band gathering momentum amid a steady lead instrumental melody, Shelstad takes aim at the powers that reinforce an acquisition-centric, colonial mindset: “The empire is seen, edge of their lawns / hoping all their gardens grow."

The music video for “Gardens” was created by Lewis Klahr, a Los Angeles-based collage artist who uses found images and sound to explore the intersection of memory and history. Watch the official “Gardens” music video here.

Barbaro — named after the beloved, tragically euthanized Kentucky Derby champion horse — recorded About the Winter during the winter of 2022 with Brian Joseph (Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens, yMusic) at his The Hive studio, a refurbished barn outside of Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Joseph played a pivotal role in the album, engineering, mixing, and co-producing the album with Shelstad. Josephs helped the band craft a distinctive, enveloping sonic landscape that combined their acoustic instruments with a rich bed of synthetic sound — they cite electronic musician Jon Hopkins as a particular influence.

The songs on About the Winter alternate between Shelstad and Calvert on vocals, which lends Barbaro the ability to inhabit different characters whose ongoing dialogue propels the album forward with natural, almost play-like progression. From the shimmering album overture “Apples To Apples” on through the ghostly bluegrass throwdown “Ike’s Farewell,” Barbaro conjures up a varied and engaging inversion of roots music orthodoxy.

Shelstad founded Babaro as a duo in 2017 alongside Isaac Sammis, who, before departing the band after the birth of his second child, played on the sessions for About the Winter. Calvert joined at the end of 2017, and, after some shuffling of musicians, Wells arrived in early 2019. Although coming from an almost exclusively classical music background, Wells was intrigued by what he heard in Barbaro, and was sold immediately after his first gig with them. Calvert, who also comes from a classical background, likens the band’s approach, through the song dynamics and their musical interactions, to playing in a classical quartet.

In 2018, Barbaro released their first EP and began to build up a local following, winning the John Hartford Memorial Festival Band Contest and the Minnesota Bluegrass and Old Time Music Association’s Americana Roots Band Contest. The group's debut full length — 2020’s Dressed In Roses — was warmly received as well. The Bluegrass Situation commended them for “brightening the Midwest bluegrass scene,” while The Minneapolis Star-Tribune praised the “elegant yet understated violin and banjo parts alongside singer/guitarist Kyle Shelstad’s Mumford-meets-Paul Simon type of songwriting.” Mike Pengra of Minnesota Public Radio says that “Barbaro budge beyond the bounds of bluegrass…I find myself leaning into the sound, trying to figure out where this unique blend came from, and where it’s going next.”

This fall, Barbaro will take their music on the road throughout the United States on a headlining tour, culminating in a hometown performance on December 2 at the Cedar Cultural Center. The full routing can be found below.

Barbaro Tour Dates

Wed Nov 1        Des Moines, IA             XBK 

Thu Nov 2         St. Louis, MO                Off Broadway 

Fri Nov 3           Nashville, TN                The Basement

Sat Nov 4          Atlanta, GA                   Eddies Attic 

Sun Nov 5         Asheville, NC                The Outpost

Tue Nov 7         Philadelphia, PA            MilkBoy Philly

Wed Nov 8        New York, NY               Mercury Lounge

Thu Nov 9         Boston, MA                   Cafe 939 

Fri Nov 10         Albany, NY                    The Linda 

Sat Nov 11        Burlington, VT               Radio Bean 

Tue Nov 14       Toronto, CAN                Monarch 

Wed Nov 15      Pittsburgh, PA                Club Cafe

Thu Nov 16     Kalamazoo, MI                Bell’s

Fri Nov 17         Chicago, IL                   Judson & Moore 

Sat Nov 18        Chicago, IL                   Judson & Moore 

Sat Dec 1         Minneapolis, MN           Cedar Cultural Center

Too Sad for the Public Interview and In-Studio Performance on WNYC "New Sounds" with John Schaefer

Home Page | New Sounds | Hand-picked music, genre free

Too Sad For the Public's Elastic Take on American Roots Music

John Schaefer

The sounds of American roots music – folk ballads, fiddle tunes, early blues, New Orleans second line grooves  – may seem like they belong to another century. But the NY-based collective called Too Sad For The Public takes those old songs and remakes them, often in surprising ways. Too Sad For The Public’s arranger and producer Dick Connette, along with a sextet version of the band featuring vocalist Ana Egge, play some of the tunes from the latest album, Vol. 2, Yet And Still, in-studio.

Set list: 1. Railroad Bill 2. Old Forty

Listen and Watch HERE

'Too Sad for the Public' Album Release Show July 29th at Jalopy Theater in Brooklyn

We are pleased to announce a Record Release Show to celebrate Dick Connette's Too Sad for the Public "Vol. 2 - Yet and Still" at Jalopy Theater in Red Hook Brooklyn, Saturday July 29th from 6 - 8 PM.  The show will feature Ana Egge on vocals and guitar.  Ana will be splitting the set between songs from "Vol. 2. - Yet and Still' and her own songs.  Advance tickets can be purchased HERE

The band for the show is:
Ana Egge - guitar, vocal
Dick Connette - mellotron
Bobby Hawk - violin, mandolin, backing vocals
Lorenzo Wolf - guitar, synth
Ish Montgomery - bass
Ethan Eubanks - drums, backing vocals

Yet and Still is tellingly titled. That African-American locution, meaning “even so,” has been used in the blues as a poetic conjunction, a bridge from what was to what is. And that spirit is exactly what animates the deep roots of Connette’s music and lyrics. He calls this work song-stirring, taking American folk, breaking it down and shaking it up, finding new life among its most cherished traditions. 

Too Sad For The Public Plays With Folk Music’s Authorial Elasticity On New Album Vol. 2 - Yet and Still

Too Sad For The Public — the project helmed by StorySound Records founder Dick Connette, announce Vol. 2 - Yet and Still, out July 28 on StorySound Records.

Featuring a wide range of collaborators — including yMusic’s Rob Moose (Paul Simon, Phoebe Bridgers), Chaim Tannenbaum (Loudon Wainwright III, Kate & Anna McGarrigle), Steve Elson (Gov’t Mule, David Bowie), Steven Bernstein (Levon Helm, Rufus Wainwright), Billy Martin (Medeski Martin & Wood) and heralded StorySound folk artist Ana Egge — Yet and Still finds Too Sad For The Public boldly recontextualizing an array of traditional American musics, drawing out unexpected elements and radically uprooting songs to isolate unique portions of their DNA. Moments of sublime serendipity abound.

Lead single “Railroad Bill (pt2)” — which features vocals from Chaim Tannenbaum — originally came to life as a remix and reframing of another version of the American folksong that appears on this record, sung by Ana Egge, the album’s principal lead vocalist.

Says Connette about the track: “While I was recording and mixing Ana Egge’s version of “Railroad Bill,” there were several parts I especially liked that I didn’t use - Ana’s rhythm guitar, Chaim Tannenbaum’s harmonica solos, and Bill Ruyle’s clackety sticks on the rim of a bass drum. Plus somehow I got the idea to create a harmonica choir and wrote and recorded 24 parts over the basic form, which I spread across the first half of the song. As it happened, “Railroad Bill” was also a particular favorite of Chaim’s, so I left it to him to spin the story different — that of a boastful, triumphant, unrepentant and unreconstructed bad man.”

“Railroad Bill (pt2)” gives a modern and hypnotic spin on a train robber ballad. Its galloping rhythm and harmonica choirs bring to mind a rustic, folklorically-minded version of NEU! — more naturalistic and rough-hewn but equally entrancing. Watch the video for “Railroad Bill (pt2),” directed by LA-based collage artist Lewis Klahr, HERE.

As a whole, Yet and Still explores authorial elasticity in the American traditional and popular music, reveling in the gradual content shifts that songs undergo as they pass from performer to performer, generation to generation, audience to audience. This has long been a fascination of Dick Connette’s, going back almost 40 years to when he shifted his focus from the developments in NYC’s downtown avant garde composition scene to researching and performing traditional American music.

Through his research, he compiled his own personal Rosetta’s Stone: He calls it the Greatest Hits of Folk Music, and it comprises 35 cassettes, 15 CDs, and 7 mp3 playlists  of both commercial and field recordings that he personally finds most striking — lyrically, melodically, harmonically, and instrumentally. This compilation played roles in all sorts of projects Connette undertook, from his production of Geoff Muldaur’s Bix Beiderbecke tribute Private Astronomy, his work on Loudon Wainwright III’s GRAMMY-winning Charlie Poole project High Wide & Handsome, and his own output with singer Sonya Cohen in the group Last Forever. When Sonya died in 2015, Connette carried on with Too Sad for the Public.

On Yet and Still, Connette takes his findings and draws out altogether new shapes. The project transforms through-composed bluegrass symphonies into elegiac string quartets (“Uncle Bunting,” originally built off of an old Uncle Bunt Stephens fiddle record recording from 1923); jazzily shifts the harmonic structures of Elizabeth Cotten’s “Shake Sugaree” to lend it a more ominous shadowing; and cannily casts traditional New Orleans music both in a more minimalist rhythmic rendering and all-out street band mayhem (respectively, “Hey Now (pt2)” and Hey Now (pt1)”).

Throughout, Yet and Still is a celebration of the inventive permutations and idiosyncratic processes of American musics —as well as Connette’s own imaginative approach to interpretation.

Vol. 2 - Yet and Still Tracklist:

1. Uncle Bunting (pt1)
Rob Moose - mandolin, violin, banjo, guitar, bass

2. Shake Sugaree
Ana Egge - vocal, guitar, Dick Connette - piano. Lorenzo Wolff - bass, Ethan Eubanks - drums

3. Hey Now (pt1)
Steven Bernstein - trumpet, vocal, Frank Greene - trumpet, vocal, Curtis Fowlkes - trombone, vocal, Jeffery Miller - trombone, vocal, Michael Blake - tenor saxophone, vocal, Erik Lawrence - baritone saxophone, vocal, Marcus Rojas - tuba, vocal, Billy Martin - drums/percussion, vocal

4. G. Burns in the Bottom (pt1)
Ana Egge - lead vocal, guitar, Lucy Wainwright Roche - backing vocal, Suzzy Roche - backing vocal, Dick Connette - harmonium, Dan Levine - euphonium, Lorenzo Wolff - baritone guitar, bass, Bill Ruyle - footsteps, cymbal pair, bass drum

5. Uncle Bunting (pt2)
Chaim Tannenbaum - lead vocal, harmonica, Ana Egge - backing vocal, Rayna Gellert - backing vocal, violin, viola

6. Old Forty
Ana Egge  - vocal, guitar, Dan Levine - trombone, Dick Connette - synth, Lorenzo Wolff - synth, bass

7. Railroad Bill (pt1)
Ana Egge - vocal, guitar, Dick Connette - piano, maracas, Lorenzo Wolff - baritone guitar, bass, Ethan Eubanks - shakers, drums

8. Uncle Bunting (pt3)
Steve Elson - piccolo, baritone sax, tenor sax, Curtis Fowlkes - trombone, Marcus Rojas - euphonium, tuba, Ethan Eubanks - orchestral bells, drums

9. Hey Now (pt2)
Ana Egge - lead vocal, Lucy Wainwright Roche - backing vocal, Suzzy Roche - backing vocal, Lorenzo Wolff - bass, Kory Grossman - percussion, Jeff Kraus - percussion, Paul Pizzuti - percussion, Ethan Eubanks - tambourine, drums

10. Railroad Bill (pt2)
Chaim Tannenbaum - vocal, harmonica, Ana Egge - rhythm guitar, Lorenzo Wolff - lead guitar, rhythm guitar, synth, bass, Dick Connette - cymbal crunch, synth, Ethan Eubanks - shakers, Bill Ruyle - bass drum rim clicks

11. Train Your Child
Rayna Gellert - vocal, violin, Kieran Kane - guitar

12. G. Burns in the Bottom (pt2)
Jacob Garchik - trombone, euphonium, Clark Gayton - trombone, euphonium, Dan Levine - trombone, euphonium, Marcus Rojas - tuba, euphonium, Jerome Jennings - tambourine, drums

yMusic Track "Cloud" Featured on NPR Music 'Now Playing'

yMusic, 'Cloud'

An airy trumpet and vocalese groove propels the piece

They say every dark cloud has a silver lining, but there's nothing threatening about "Cloud," from the upcoming album by yMusic. The piece is all shiny, fluffy lightness — a perfect pop song length track to hum along with as spring comes into bloom.

Disregarding genre pigeonholes, the new music sextet shares stages with pop stars like Paul Simon and John Legend and commissions music by today's top composers such as Caroline Shaw, Nico Muhly and Andrew Norman.

"Cloud" offers glistening, metallic strings to open, followed by puffy bass chord beats from the cello, airy trumpet lines and a vocalese groove that propels the piece to cumulonimbus heights before landing safely. With its sunny outlook and sturdy construction, the song, produced by Valgeir Sigurðsson (Björk, Sigur Rós, Ben Frost) wouldn't sound out of place on a Feist album. It's a good reminder that amid pandemics, politics and violence, we could all use a light-filled serenade sometimes to uncloud our heads.

Watch the video for "Cloud"
◈ Stream "Cloud" by yMusic

 

Dan Tepfer Charts at #1 on Billboard

We are thrilled to announce that Dan Tepfer's album 'Inventions / Reinventions' has entered the Billboard Traditional Classical Albums chart at #1. 

On his new album Inventions / Reinventions, pianist-composer Dan Tepfer performs each of Bach’s beloved 15 Two Part Inventions interleaved in chromatic sequence by 9 of his own free improvisations in the “missing” keys to create a new full, and fully transporting 24-key experience, a 55-minute mix of the timeless and the contemporary.

Dan Tepfer Interview on NPR Morning Edition

For pianist Dan Tepfer, improvisation is the mother of Bach's Inventions

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March 17, 20235:15 AM ET

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