Displaying items by tag: Harmonies

"Shook Twins' performances feel like a glimpse into a long history of musical discovery—their shows can feel like late-night porch sessions, where the songs are so internalized they stream out like a conversation." – Emilee Booher, Willamette Week

They wowed us in 2014 and in 2015 and now they are back for two sets at the 12th Annual Ogden Music Festival and a free-to-the-public outreach concert on Monday following the festival. If you haven't seen and heard them yet, its time you did!

From Northern Utah, Alternative Folk/Americana band Mama LongLegs delivers an alluring blend of First Aid Kit's intricate harmonies, with the unique character of bluegrass instruments.

Harris and Simper first met in college where they both studied music. They have spent the last few years writing and performing in different music groups, separately and together. They've teamed up to unleash their warm, seamless vocal harmonies and interplay between Megan's tasteful, flirtatious mandolin and Allie's raw and sensitive guitar playing. They've been influenced by other Folk/Americana musicians such as I'm With Her, Shovels and Rope, The Punch Brothers, and The Dixie Chicks.

The 3 Muses (Eliza, Kjersten and Lucy Danzig) have charmed audiences coast to coast with their tight three part sister harmonies and their distinct personalities. They have opened for many notable acts including; Jerry Douglas and the Earls of Leicester, The Duhks and the Shook Twins. The Muses perform regularly with their parent's (Peter & Mary Danzig) folkgrass duo, Otter Creek. They are featured on several tracks of Otter Creek’s most recent album The Fiddle Preacher which climbed to #16 on the Folk Charts. The Muses first E.P. is scheduled to be released at the beginning of June 2016.

"When I hear Run Boy Run, it all comes back to me, why I started doing that show back then. I hope they go on forever." - Garrison Keillor, A Prairie Home Companion

Existing comfortably in the tension between tradition and the musical frontier, Run Boy Run's all-acoustic format blends bluegrass, folk and the old timey American vernacular with touches of classical and jazz. Their music is rooted in the traditional music of the Appalachian South, but is also definitively present in the 21st century.

In a relatively short period of time, Della Mae has become a sensation in the music world. Commanding a powerful collective chemistry with vocal, instrumental, and songwriting talent to spare, the Boston-based combo mines time-honored elements to create music that's unmistakably fresh and contemporary and has earned them the 2013 IBMA Emerging Artists of the Year

The group quickly won an enthusiastic following through their high-energy live performances at festivals around the country. The band expanded its reputation with their self-released first album, 2011's I Built This Heart, which won an impressive amount of attention for a D.I.Y. release.

This World Oft Can Be, Della Mae's second album and Rounder debut, shows that like the Avett Brothers, Lumineers, and Punch Brothers, these five multitalented young women are respectful of American musical tradition, but not restricted by it, combining centuries' worth of musical influences with an emotionally tough, undeniably modern songwriting sensibility.

In addition to playing festivals and clubs throughout the United States, Della Mae recently expanded the scale of its touring efforts after participating in the U.S. State Department's American Music Abroad program. Selected as cultural ambassadors, the band spent 43 days traveling in Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, where they collaborated with local musicians, taught educational programs for children, and played concerts for local audiences.

"It's been a life-changing experience for us, individually and as a band," Ludiker says of the tour. "A cool thing about playing music in Central Asian countries is in the lack of distinction their audience places between musical genres. We found that if music is played with feeling, all people connected to it. They find themselves smiling and relating without even understanding the language."

Indeed, Della Mae demonstrates how effectively music builds bridges and transcends artificially constructed borders, whether they're national or genre-based. Ludiker concludes: "All five ladies are individually driven, and we are working towards the same goal. This band definitely feels like a calling, a labor of love."

Also back by popular demand, last year's local darlings of the festival will again be gracing our stage with the special brand of magic that is reserved for Wayward Molly. 

Existing in the tension between tradition and frontier, Telluride Bluegrass Festival Band Contest winner and Prairie Home Companion guest, Run Boy Run, truly exceeds the sum of its parts as touches of classical, jazz, and folk express themselves through the old-time core of the band’s unique sound.