Over at HearthPR headquarters, we're very excited to be promoting the new EP from roots musician Woody Pines. We've been watching Woody since he was in the Kitchen Syncopators, a legendary busking street jugband from Eugene, OR, that were the shining lights of the West Coast folk scene. They broke up some years ago, and Woody Pines went off to a great solo career interpreting his vision of American roots music: all full of stomp and swing, jump and jive, the kind of music that leaves us tapping our feet, bouncing around in our office chairs, and grinning all the while. It's old-time feel-good music done by a young master who clearly understands that this kind of music was always about having a great time. Enjoy!

Woody Pines: You Gotta Roll EP

You know it when you hear the name: Woody Pines is a roots musician who taps into the rural backwoods of Americana. On his new EP, You Gotta Roll, you’ll hear backroads folk music of the very best kind, inspired by rough street jugbands, neighborhood BBQs, lost 78’s of old blues singers, dusty 45’s of forgotten rockabilly singles, a faint radio signal you can’t trace and can’t stop listening to; the kind of music you have to travel deep into the country to find. Woody’s been playing this music for years, first cutting his teeth with the fabled Kitchen Syncopators, a street-performance jugband from Eugene, Oregon that also included Gill Landry of Old Crow Medicine Show. This beloved crew traveled up and down the West Coast, laying the seeds for a new generation to take on traditional music. Going solo in 2002, Woody released the acclaimed 2009 album, Counting Alligators, and has been enjoying touring in the US and the UK. Now Woody’s back and preparing to drop a full-length album in late summer 2012. You Gotta Roll is an EP teaser designed to showcase new songs and a new sound born of his hot touring band.

He may have gotten his start busking as a jugband on the streets of New Orleans and the Pacific Northwest, but years of hard-traveling and touring, plus guest spots with powerful artists like David Rawling, The Felice Brothers, Justin Townes Earle, and more have honed Woody’s music to a razor’s edge. On You Gotta Roll, Woody and his band rip through five traditional songs from diverse sources. The Dock Boggs classic “Red Rockin’ Chair” gets a somber makeover with acoustic banjo, Leadbelly’s “Ham & Eggs” gets a smooth rockabilly beat, and Hank Williams “Can’t Keep You Off My Mind” and “Treat You Right” from Washington Phillips/Casey Jones both keep the kind of harmonica-fueled swing that made Woody’s name as a street performer. The Woody Pines band includes Zack Pozebanchuck on Upright Bass, Lyon Graulty on Clarinet, Lead Guitar and Vocal Harmonies, Mike Gray on Drums, and Woody on Guitar, Harmonica and Vocals. Throughout, Woody’s vintage vocals lead the band’s hot accompaniment, sounding at times like a reborn Bill Haley. This is roots music done hard and fast, with a jump and jive sound you might have heard in the earliest days of rock ‘n roll. It’s music that hasn’t forgotten its old dancehall roots; the kind of music you’d hear at a crowded rent party, as sweaty dancers crashed about a tiny room. On You Gotta Roll, Woody Pines has taken the music that inspired his wanderlust youth and turned it into a living vision of American roots music today.

Woody Pines: Long Gone Lost John


Woody Pines: Ham & Eggs


 

Here at HearthPR we love great fiddling. If we had our way, we'd work with fiddlers all the time! So we're very happy to be promoting the new album from young Boston fiddler Mariel Vandersteel. She's found a fascinating common ground between the fiddle traditions of Scandinavia (Norway) and Southern old-time music. Her album, Hickory, effortlessly blends the two, along with tunes she's composed herself or learned from friends in the Boston trad music scene. This album is a wonderful testament to the kind of music a masterful artist can make when they truly love the roots of the music.

For roots music to work, it needs to well up from a deep sense of love for the tradition. On the debut album, Hickory, from Boston fiddler Mariel Vandersteel, you can sense this love of the music in every beat. Each tune, drawn from old-time and Norwegian fiddle styles, has the mark of a musical memory. Perhaps a night of music among friends, or a fiddle lesson in Norway, or even a moment alone under a pine tree with her fiddle. You can hear the joy she takes in her music, and it helps that she’s a deft and subtle fiddler, able to draw the kind of emotion out of instrumental music that you’d expect from a song. She’s also a master at finding common ground between two traditions. Inspired by the beautiful harmonies of the Norwegian hardanger fiddle, she found a connection to the drone-heavy syncopations of Southern old-time fiddling. On Hickory, she effortlessly blends the two traditions together, reveling in the rich, acoustic tones of true folk music. Her fiddling lies somewhere between the old fjords of Norway and the ancient Blue Ridge Mountains.

Hickory is a product of Boston’s vibrant roots music scene, and it shows both in the music and in the friends that Mariel brings along with her. Respected guitarist Jordan Tice anchors the accompaniment on the album, while noted instrumentalists like Scottish harpist Maeve Gilchrist, mandolinist Dominick Leslie and bassist Sam Grisman of the Deadly Gentlemen, fiddler Tristan Clarridge of the Bee Eaters and Crooked Still, and guest fiddler Duncan Wickel contribute to the lush arrangements of the album. Throughout, Mariel’s fiddling shines like a polished gem, at turns racing through an old-time tune like the title track “Hickory,” or spinning gently along, as in the tune she wrote called “Sitting on the Ridge.” Mysterious old Norwegian tunes rub shoulders here with new compositions from Keith Murphy and Dirk Powell, compositions from Mariel herself, and old-time tunes inspired by sources like John Hartford and Foghorn Stringband.

Hickory is an inspiring testament to the power of the old tunes, and the new tunes that we continue to write. This is proof positive that traditional fiddling holds the same power today that it did hundreds of years ago. Hickory is an album of music with its roots deep in the past and its branches reaching into a new century.

Mariel Vandersteel: Sitting on the Ridge


Mariel Vandersteel: Norafjølls




Coming soon for purchase...

Pharis & Jason Romero's recent album, A Passing Glimpse, has been blowing up all over the US and Canada (and now the buzz is moving to the UK/Europe). It's not hard to see why, the album is a stunningly beautiful set of new and old songs, performed in with an effortless mastery of the tradition.

The other part of the story is that in addition to being great musicians, the two are also some of the best banjo makers in the world. The Fretboard Journal, a wonderful magazine dedicated to fine instruments and instrument builders, recognized this and sent up a documentary film crew to capture some of the magic in and around their home in the remote town of Horsefly, British Columbia. Led by young filmmaker Matt Miles, the resulting short documentary is truly inspiring. Matt managed to capture the natural beauty of their home, the easy grace of their marriage, and some of the spirit they pour into their music. 

Check it out:

And if you're running short on time, here's a quick music video from Matt's documentary. A deft interpretation of the classic song, "Wild Bill Jones."

We're pleased as punch to announce that we're currently promoting the new album from Portland bluegrass kings Jackstraw. These guys developed the Northwest old-time roots sound and their new album is a magnificent return to form. Check 'em out:



The muddy Willamette River that runs through Portland, Oregon, may not be as famous as the mighty Mississippi, but it forms the border of a new form of American roots music, informed both by the traditions of the American South and the rainy woods of the Northwest. Portland bluegrass band Jackstraw has been the flagship of this movement since they formed in 1997. They know their bluegrass history and don’t hesitate to pay homage to their heroes, like the Stanley Brothers, but this ain’t your standard bluegrass band. These boys have a cutting edge take on bluegrass picking that they’ve developed over years of touring the United States, and their original songs can sound as much country as old-time.

Jackstraw are currently celebrating the release of their brand-new sixth album, Sunday Never Comes. The album features brand-new member Cory Goldman (Water Tower Bucket Boys) on banjo, and all original material. Principal songwriters Darrin Craig and David Pugh have built new songs drenched in history and dusty nostalgia, and honed from fifteen years of making music together. Jackstraw formed in 1997 when rhythm guitarist Darrin Craig and lead player Jon Neufeld (who also plays in the Decemberists’ side project Black Prairie), met mandolin picker David Pugh and bassist Jesse Withers at Artichoke Music, a Portland guitar store. Six records and 15 years later, the band has toured throughout the United States, playing roadhouses, clubs, listening rooms and festivals. They’ve picked up a reputation over the years for their impeccable musicianship and hard-driving original songs. This is bluegrass that belongs in a dusty honky-tonk, country twang as rooted in Bill Monroe as George Jones, an old sound for a new age.

Jackstraw: Come On Back To Me

Jackstraw: Poor Man

 

What a great year we've had here at HearthPR! We're so proud of all the artists we've worked with and all the coverage we've gotten for them. And we're so thankful for all the support we've had from our many friends in radio and media.
 

To close out 2011, we're excited to promote the new album from Northwest/Colorado songwriter Katya Chorover. We've been aching for some Northwest country music with just a hint of singer-songwriter lyricism, and Katya sure delivers. Her album was a stand-out for us and we think you'll enjoy her beautiful voice and great songwriting skills. Out here in Seattle we're looking at another rainy Christmas, so this will help take the edge off.
 

Katya Chorover: Big Big Love
It took a move from the rain-drenched Pacific Northwest to the dry, high deserts of Southwestern Colorado for songwriter Katya Chorover to find the inspiration she needed to complete her first album in ten years, Big Big Love. That’s a long time to wait for any artist, and though she was busy writing and living her life, she’d taken a long hiatus from performing. But the sounds of country music radio that rolled through the canyons of her home in Cortez, Colorado, subtly infused her new songs with a kind of dusty, rusty twang. With a long history of songwriting in the Northwest, where her insightful lyrics and beautifully crafted melodies helped her stand far out from the pack of singer-songwriters, Katya returned to Portland, Oregon, to produce Big Big Love, inviting the best acoustic roots musicians in a city that’s known as a hub for a new folk music revival. The result is an album as delicately balanced as a desert rock pile, with one foot in the acoustic country music Katya’s grown to love, and another foot in the innovative Northwest roots music scene that she helped build years ago.

Though Katya Chorover’s songs are rooted in strong country tradition, they’re also a personal testimony to her growth as an artist and a person. In 2006, she traded a view of the San Juan Islands for a view of the San Juan Mountains, which she can see from her living room in Colorado. With a new job and a new home, Katya stopped performing to focus on family, but the songs didn’t stop coming, and when the time finally came to put them on record, she knew she had to return home. So Katya flew to Portland, OR to work with producer Casey Neill, an acclaimed songwriter himself. For Big Big Love, Neill helped line up a host of Portland’s hottest roots musicians including two early members of the Decemberists, Jesse Emerson on bass and Ezra Holbrook on drums, and current Decemberist Jenny Conlee-Drizos on piano. Other musicians include Annalisa Tornfelt (Black Prairie) on fiddle, Matt Brown (She and Him) on guitar, Dan Tyack on pedal steel and dobro, and Zak Borden on mandolin. The full band sound showcases Katya’s beautiful, crisp vocals, surrounding her voice with a forest of acoustic instruments and electric steel guitar. As she opens with the words “Big big love, big big heart, big wide spirit sets you apart,” we can only feel the same big, big love right back at her, and we’re sure you will too.

Katya Chorover: Big Big Love


Katya Chorover: Little Bird

We're so proud to be promoting the 2010 album, Lay Down My Burden, from Seattle blues icon Grant Dermody. As a world-renowned harmonica player and blues singer, who frequently tours as a duo with Eric Bibb, we knew his album would be a hit. As a remarkably subtle re-inventor of traditions, and an artist who can meld old-time music into country blues, we knew his album would be critically welcomed. But more than that, he impressed us with his gentle and beautiful acceptance of the hardship of life and his ability to translate that into real blues. Not an imitation of the blues, but the real thing. Grant's said that he sees this album as a prayer, and as the path of his life turned him towards Buddhism, this came out in his blues. A gorgeous and unexpected result of hard times.

Grant Dermody: Lay Down My Burden

For many artists, the blues is a state of mind, a certain feeling when the woes of the world pile up at your door. For Seattle-based harmonica player and blues singer Grant Dermody, the blues is a journey. In a physical sense, Grant has traveled all over the US and the world with the blues, touring with renowned guitarist/singer Eric Bibb, and learning from old-school blues masters like Honeyboy Edwards, John Jackson, John Cephas & Phil Wiggins, and more. In a spiritual sense, Grant Dermody’s new album, Lay Down My Burden, is a journey through the sadness of life’s passages. What started out as an album of old favorites recorded with friends became his journey to a deeper understanding of his own life. He was guided on this journey by a growing connection to Buddhism. In fact, one of the more powerful tracks on the album is a duet with his Buddhist teacher Kilung Jigme Rinpoche. To Dermody, his album became a prayer; a prayer to find strength within himself. The joy of the album is his realization that his family and friends, many connected across a whole nation, were the strength he didn’t know he had.

On Lay Down My Burden, Grant Dermody is joined by a host of blues artists, all of whom he’s known as friends and colleagues. Each track features a different artist or grouping, and each track is a small window into Dermody’s thoughtful take on traditional blues. There are some sublime moments here too! John Cephas’ beautiful and haunting singing on the Skip James classic “Hard Time Killing Floor Blues” is a stand-out, as is Eric Bibb’s guitar playing on the opening track from Rev. Gary Davis, “I’ll Be Alright,” or North Carolina legend John Dee Holeman’s gritty take on “You Don’t Have to Go.” Dermody himself takes the lead on a number of tracks, singing chilling renditions of “Twelve Gates to the City” and “Waterbound” (the Dirk Powell version). And though Dermody’s friends come from all over, he’s also joined by Seattle virtuosos like Orville Johnson, Del Rey, John Miller, and Mark Graham. The album isn’t entirely blues; Dermody’s always been known as a keen interpreter of American roots music, so he includes the classic Stephen Foster song “Hard Times Come Again No More” and even an old-time tune, “David’s Cow.” Throughout, Dermody’s masterful harmonica playing shines, at times growling along besides the singer like an angry old dog, or at times soaring over the voice like a hawk. This is the blues stripped of all pretense and fabrication, hand-made music for a modern age.

Grant Dermody: Twelve Gates to the City

Grant Dermody: Evening Train