folk | Musicosity

folk

Basement Birds

Basement Birds is an Australian indie supergroup comprised of Kavyen Temperley (Eskimo Joe's frontman and bassist), Steve Parkin (solo singer/songwriter), Kevin Mitchell (musician) (Jebediah, Bob Evans frontman) and solo singer/songwriter Josh Pyke. The groups' mutual love of lush vocal harmonies and alt-country style was the basis for forming the Basement Birds project. "Luckily we all seem to have fairly similar tastes in music, I think it'd be harder if we had someone who was into death metal and another into jazz fusion.

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Julianna Barwick

Louisiana-bred, Brooklyn-based recording artist Julianna Barwick crafts ethereal, largely wordless soundscapes, all of which are built around multiple loops and layers of her angelic voice. Barwick, who credits a rural, church choir upbringing for her unique sound, begins most tracks with a single phrase or refrain, then uses a loop station and the occasional piano or percussive instrument to build the song into a swirling mass of lush, ambient folk.

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James Teague

James Teague is a singer/songwriter/guitarist from Perth, Western Australia. Channelling some of the more inspired moments in the annals of folk, country, blues, psych-rock and pop, James Teague has forged a sound that is remarkably distinctive, given his relative freshness to the live music circuit; a sound most easily recognized by intricate, dynamic arrangements, unpredictable songwriting and a soaring vocal tremolo. Listen a little closer and you’ll notice the fiercely dexterous fingerpicking and crafty, eloquent lyricism.

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Fistful of Mercy

Fistful Of Mercy is Joseph Arthur, Ben Harper, and Dhani Harrison. The band formed in February 2010, when Arthur asked Harper to accompany him in the studio; Harper then asked Harrison, whom he had met at a skate park in Santa Monica, California, to accompany them. Upon arriving at the Carriage House studio in Los Angeles’ Silverlake neighborhood, the trio went on to write and record nine original acoustic songs. Harrison compared the trio's collaborative process to his father's stint in The Traveling Wilburys.

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Crooked Still

Crooked Still is a self-styled alternative bluegrass band consisting of vocalist Aoife O'Donovan, cellist Tristan Clarridge, fiddler Brittany Haas, banjo player Dr. Gregory Liszt, and bassist Corey DiMario. They are known for their high energy, technical skill, unique instrumentation and innovative acoustic style. O'Donovan and DiMario met at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts in spring of 2001. Former cellist Rushad Eggleston, who was studying at Berklee College of Music, and Liszt, a graduate student at MIT, were playing music together around the same time.

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The Popes

The Popes were originally assembled by Shane MacGowan (The Pogues) after he either quit (his version) or was booted (the band's version) from the Pogues. Although they began life as Shane's backing band, Shane's somewhat "erratic" behavior gave them the incentive and the room to branch out on their own a bit. They have released two studio cds, "Holloway Boulevard" and "Outlaw Heaven" both on Snapper records, and a live set coupled with the studio set, also on Snapper Records.

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Willy Mason

Willy Mason (born 21 November 1984) is an American singer-songwriter. He is the son of Jemima James and Michael Mason, both folk singers who, according to Mason, have influenced his music. When Mason was five, he and his family moved from New York to West Tisbury, Massachusetts on the island of Martha's Vineyard. He attended West Tisbury Elementary School and Martha's Vineyard Regional High School, where he participated in several local bands such as Keep Thinking, Cultivation, and Slow Leslie. He later moved to New York City, playing mostly at open mikes and small venues.

Jimmy Webb

Jimmy Webb (born August 15, 1946 in Elk City, Oklahoma) is an idiosyncratic American popular music composer. Jimmy Webb is responsible for writing numerous popular and Top 10 hits sung by a disparate group of artists, including Glen Campbell ("Galveston"); Art Garfunkel ("All I Know"); Donna Summer and many others. Webb's father was a Baptist minister and a former Marine. His mother died when he was a teenager. His most popular songs were all composed when he was between 19 and 21 years of age.

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Teddy Thompson

Teddy Thompson was born in London, England in 1976 and is the son of Linda Thompson and Richard Thompson (Richard & Linda Thompson), and the brother of singer Kamila Thompson. Teddy's style is difficult to categorize, because his influences are varied. Growing up around folk music, he listened to a musical gamut that covered Hank Williams, Jimi Hendrix, Sam Cooke and gospel. As he fell in with other musical progeny, most notably close friend Rufus Wainwright, his sound developed into his own combination of country/western, rock, and his father's folk-rock.