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Noah & Abby Gundersen

July 26, 2014 by 12 Comments

Noah Gundersen, 25, is an American singer-songwriter from Seattle, Washington.  Gundersen began playing music when he was 10 or 11 years old when his parents had him take piano lessons. In 2002, he inherited his first guitar from his father and taught himself to play the guitar and recorded songs with his father’s recording equipment. Three years later, his birthday gift was an acoustic guitar with which he still performs with today. Around the age of 16, Gundersen was performing solo in local cafes. His sister Abby began to accompany him with violin and harmonies in 2006. 

Find this tune on iTunes on his album Ledges.

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Do You Feel

July 11, 2014 by 10 Comments

José James, 36, is a singer songwriter from Minneapolis, and is best known for performing and blending modern jazz and hip-hop. James joined the Blue Note roster in 2013 when he released his breakout album No Beginning No End to wide acclaim. With its irrepressible lead single “Trouble,” the album release found José making national TV appearances on Conan, Late Show With David Letterman, andTonight Show With Jay Leno.

The New York Times praised his “cool and confident” album, adding that it “sounds like the result of the black-pop continuum, jazz and soul and hip-hop and R&B, slow-cooked for more than 50 years.” NPR Music raved that “James makes utterly contemporary music,” noting that he “skirts categories with ease, fitting in with current R&B innovators like Frank Ocean or Miguel, yet maintaining a strong awareness of a lineage that stretches from Ray Charles to Marvin Gaye to Lou Rawls to Maxwell.”

Find this tune on his 2013 Album titled: No Beginning No End

José James official site and his full bio can be found at: josejamesmusic.com

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Let Me Comfort You

June 26, 2014 by 17 Comments

Erick Baker, 35, is a singer-songwriter from Knoxville, Tennessee. He didn’t sing or write songs until he enrolled at the University of Tennessee. Baker had picked up the guitar during his college days and played occasionally at parties for fun, by his own admission in hopes of meeting women. While doing a set at an open-mike night in Knoxville, Baker was spotted by a local promoter who gave him a spot opening a show for John Legend and soon buzz about Baker began to spread. He has performed with national acts, including rock musician James Blunt, alternative country musician Brandi Carlile, pop-rock musician Gavin DeGraw, the rock band Goo Goo Dolls, the rock band Heart, R&B artist John Legend.

“My songs belong to every right turn and wrong turn that have led me here,” Baker says.  “They reflect the pieces of poetry hidden in the experiences that lie in each of our everyday lives.”

Find this tune on iTunes: Erik Baker: Live At The Bijou Theatre

If you liked this, don’t miss: Erick Baker – Stay Awhile

Credits:

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George Ezra

June 20, 2014 by 15 Comments

George Ezra (born George Ezra Barnett), 21, is a British singer songwriter. His debut studio album Wanted on Voyage will be released on 30 June 2014.  Ezra was longlisted for the BBC Sound of…2014, where he eventually finished in fifth place. 

Ezra is the he son of an art teacher and a deputy head. Music trickled down to him via an elder sister, a regular at local venue the Marquee (“She was going out with the promoter”). He made his stage debut at the Marquee as a 13-year-old in a covers band, “singing the female part of Teenage Dirtbag, wearing eyeliner and my sister’s skinny jeans”. When he left school at 16 he took a job in a local sweet factory – “two jellybeans for the box, one for me, all the way.”  Ezra dropped out of college and embarked on a year of support slots, criss-crossing the country by train. Within a year he had a record deal with Columbia. (Source: The Guardian: George Ezra)

Find this song on iTunes on his EP titled Did You Hear The Rain.

His website can be found here: The Official George Ezra website

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Triple Smack-Down: Cloud Cult

June 19, 2014 by 14 Comments

There is something special here. Can’t put a finger on it. I introduced Cloud Cult earlier this month. (Their bio is worth checking out.)  And when you can’t seem to get enough of something that good (ice cream, pasta, Cloud Cult), you just keep bringing it.  Here’s three new clips from Cloud Cult: Chemicals Collide. You Were Born. Breakfast With My Shadow.

Find their album on iTunes here: Unplug

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Dark Coffee

June 12, 2014 by 18 Comments

Daniela Andrade, 21, is a folk singer songwriter from Edmonton, Alberta. She has been compared to Cat Power and Nora Jones, and some of her musical influences include Feist and Regina Spektor. She is largely known for her acoustic covers, as well as some originals, on YouTube. Her videos have been viewed more than 17 million times by world-wide audiences, leading to more than 200,000 subscribers on YouTube and more than 70,000 followers on Facebook.  Dark Coffee is a Daniela Andrade original.

If you liked this, check out Daniela singing Daughter’s Youth (Cover) and Glen Hansard’s Falling Slowly (Cover)

Find her albums on iTunes here: Things We’ve Said and Covers.

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Árstíðir

June 8, 2014 by 22 Comments

Árstíðir (English: Seasons) is an Icelandic indie-folk band with classical, progressive rock and minimalist elements. This tune is titled “Ljóð í sand” (Poetry In The Sand). Árstíðir became known to a wider internet audience in 2013 when a Youtube video went viral (3,000,000+ hits) showed them performing impromptu, Heyr himna smiður (“Hear, Smith of heavens”, a 13th century Icelandic hymn) at a train station in Germany. The video was shot by their PR manager after they had played a concert the venue inside the train station. The a capella was noted for improvising with the vaulted acoustics of the train station to effect the echo chambers of a monastic chapel.

Find the Icelandic Hymn that went viral on Youtube here.

Find their album on iTunes here: Svefns Og Voku Skil (Sleep & Waking Returns)

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Smother

June 6, 2014 by 9 Comments

  • See bio for Daughter and Related Post here.
  • Find tune and album here: If You Leave
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Family and Friends (Go ahead. Try keep your feet from tapping.)

June 3, 2014 by 12 Comments

Family and Friends have barely been a band for a year, yet they’ve made quite the name for themselves in both Athens and Atlanta. From their mesmerizing stage presence and their foot-stomping, hand-clapping singalongs to their hilarious YouTube videos and awesome picture posts, this local band has easily made music fans a part of their family. (Source: AMG-Atlanta Music Guide). Find their 2014 album here on iTunes. . Find them here on Facebook.

Thank you Rachel. Who would have thought Father and Daughter would be aligned on a Tune. There’s hope yet…

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Johnnyswim

May 30, 2014 by 14 Comments

Johnnyswim is a folk, soul, blues, pop music duo consisting of singer-songwriters Amanda Sudano and Abner Ramirez. The duo formed in 2005 in Nashville, Tennessee.  Sudano spent summers touring the world as a backing singer for her mother Donna Summer. Ramirez and Sudano first met after Sunday service at a church in Nashville, Tennessee. Four years later Sudano attended a songwriting workshop held by Ramirez and became interested in writing songs with him. Sudano and Ramirez were married in 2009.

Find their new album released on April 29, 2014 on iTunes: Diamonds

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Carry Me Home

May 20, 2014 by 19 Comments

Jamie Scott, 30, is a British singer, songwriter and producer. He started playing guitar and piano at the age of seven. Scott is heavily influenced by 1970s artists like Cat Stevens and James Taylor, and also by neo-soul artists like D’Angelo. Scott has had major success as a song writer with many artists and is one of the main collaborators with UK boy band sensations One Direction.

Jamie Scott official website.

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Panning for Gold

April 13, 2014 by 16 Comments

Ben Sollee, 30, is an American cellist, singer-songwriter, and composer known for his innovative playing style, genre-bending songwriting, electrifying performances, political activism, and wide appeal. His music incorporates banjo, guitar, and mandolin along with percussion and unusual cello techniques to create a unique sound. His songs exhibit a mix of folk, bluegrass, jazz, and R&B elements. Sollee has also composed longer instrumental pieces for dance ensembles. Raised in Lexington, Kentucky, Sollee began playing the cello in elementary school. Besides classical music, his early musical influences included recordings his parents played of Wilson Pickett, Ray Charles, Billie Holiday and Otis Redding, and later he discovered folk music. (Source: Wiki)

Find this tune on Sollee’s album here.

Thank you Steve Layman for introducing me to Ben Sollee.  And don’t miss Ben Sollee on Tedx here.

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Nights Like Tonight

April 4, 2014 by 14 Comments

“Rugged, raspy, and roaring with charisma, Halifax’s Ben Caplan is to folklore what smoke is to bourbon. Perfectly coupled. Ben’s songwriting is as bold in range as it is in ferocity. Fueled by a quality of melodrama and powerful lyricism, it’s the romance and the manhood crashing with his voice that gives Caplan a truly innovative and experimental artistry. A sound that bridges the gap between controlled composition and unruly passion. Striding in pace with gypsy-inspired strings amid the sultry tones of clarinet and saxophone, Caplan has marked his place in the Canadian music landscape with a growling spirit similar to that of Tom Waits. Breaking between guitar, banjo, piano, and melodica, Caplan’s stage show is almost reminiscent of a burly and bearded Freddy Mercury; a raging, strong, and exploratory songwriter, it’s the blues in his soul, and the heart in your chest pounding as one that makes Ben Caplan & The Casual Smokers an act not to be missed.” (Source: Audioblood)

Liked this? Check out Ben Caplan’s Under Control.

Find Caplan’s Album on iTunes here.

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Whispers

March 25, 2014 by 16 Comments

Related Post: Passenger Bio & hit song “Let Her Go” here.

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Valerie June

March 23, 2014 by 10 Comments

Valerie June, 32, is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist from Memphis, Tennessee. Her sound encompasses a mixture of folk, blues, gospel, soul, country, Appalachian and bluegrass.  After self-releasing three albums, her debut album as a signed artist, Pushin’ Against a Stone, was released in August, 2013. The album was so titled to commemorate the story of her life. June said “I feel I’ve spent my life pushing against a stone. And the jobs I’ve had have been fitting for getting a true feel for how the traditional artists I loved came home after a hard day to sit on the porch and play tunes until bedtime.”

Find her album “Pushin’ Against a Stone” on iTunes here.

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James Taylor + Carly Simon = Ben Taylor

March 15, 2014 by 24 Comments

Ben Taylor, 37, is the son of James Taylor and Carly Simon.  Here’s a mash-up of his Father’s Fire in Rain and Mother’s You’re So Vain.

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Are you ready to feel it now?

February 25, 2014 by 21 Comments

Photo of Harry CHAPIN

Two weeks running.
Every day. Every day.
The commute in. The ride home.
It opens the day.  It closes the doors.
Same tune. One tune.
Over. And over. And over.

[John Waters: “Without obsession, life is nothing.”]

From end to end.
The tune on a loop three to six times depending on traffic.

↓ click for audio (Harry Chapin – “All My Life’s A Circle”)

The Big Gato waits. Crouched.
Tapping his fingers on the seat. Impatient.
Waiting for Chapin to stop jabbering.
And then it comes. 4:30 on the running time.
I crank the volume up.
The dashboard vibrates.
Chapin cues him up.
Michael, the Cellist. Man Singing with Soul.
DK and the rest of the band join him to belt it out to the finish:

All my life’s a circle;
Sunrise and sundown;
The Moon rolls thru the nighttime;
Till the daybreak comes around.

All my life’s a circle;
But I can’t tell you why;
The Seasons’ spinning round again;
The years keep rollin’ by.

Image Source: MTVhive

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Comes and Goes

February 19, 2014 by 12 Comments

Greg Laswell, 39, is from San Diego California.
I’m a (big) fan…own all his albums.
In this clip, he’d joined by a cellist.
Laswell + Cellist = Magic.
Liked this? Don’t Miss “What A Day” and “Not Out“

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Lily Kershaw

January 24, 2014 by 9 Comments

Lily Kershaw, 22, was born and grew up in the Los Angeles, California. Her breakthrough came when one of her songs, “As It Seems,” was featured in the season seven finale of the popular CBS television series Criminal Minds in 2012. A second song, “Ashes Like Snow,” was again featured prominently in the eighth season finale of the show a year later.

  • Liked this? Check out her other hit single, “Ashes Like Snow“, at this link.
  • Her debut album, Midnight in the Garden (2013), can be found on iTunes here.
  • Interview with Lily Kershaw: Watch Lily Kershaw Bloom
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Still Trying

January 9, 2014 by 11 Comments

Nathaniel Rateliff grew up in rural Missouri, learning to play the drums at age seven. As a young teenager, he taught himself guitar and began writing his own songs. At eighteen, Rateliff relocated to Denver for missionary work. Rateliff developed a dedicated following within the Denver music community. New York Times dubbed Nathaniel Rateliff a Denver local folk-pop hero. Spin (magazine) praised his “massive, alluring” voice. Billboard (magazine) dubbed the unsigned singer-songwriter a “must hear.” He released In Memory of Loss in May 2010 which captured the attention of Amazon.com, which listed his album as the number-one album you might have missed in 2010.  In September, 2013, he set out on a tour with The Lumineers and Dr. Dog, in support of his new album.  Rateliff has also shared the stage with artists such as Bon Iver, Mason Jennings, Iron & Wine, Ben Howard, Mumford & Sons, and Roseanne Cash.  (Source: Wiki)

Find his new album “Faster Than You Can Run” at this link.

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