River Whyless

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For many bands, and especially those who’ve been together for several years, recognizing
maturation, progress or palpable evolution is a daunting task. Is it continued creative
accomplishment that signals progression? Or perhaps it’s profitable commercial endeavors? The
answer is often quite unclear. Six years, two albums and countless gigs after first forming as a
band, River Whyless, the North Carolina-bred folk-rock outfit has discovered their evolution is a
subtler albeit monumentally important one. Deep in the throes of writing and recording their bold
new album, Kindness, A Rebel , the four musicians reached a necessary and collective
understanding. Namely: this band is their lifeblood, their family and their love. To that end, with
unspoken acceptance, the members of River Whyless, each songwriters in their own right,
collectively put aside their respective egos, coalesced around each other’s creative vision, and
fully embraced the beauty of their enduring partnership.

Jalen N`Gonda

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The Artisanals

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CHXPO with Dommy Divine

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Tione

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Ricky Roosevelt

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Sav Gusto

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Alex Guthrie

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Alex Guthrie is a singer-songwriter based in Atlanta. With the infusion of different genres such as soul, folk and rock, Guthrie brings audiences together through brilliant lyrics and an expressive voice.

Most recently, Guthrie has been noted as “the guy from the Jennifer Hudson commercial.” The now-infamous American Family Insurance commercial features him playing in Atlanta’s Woodruff Park when the Grammy Award-Winning singer and performer Jennifer Hudson surprises Guthrie and sings along to Bill Wither’s beloved “Lovely Day.” The commercial has played on national television and radio, resulting in new opportunities and heightened awareness for Alex Guthrie, his band and his music.

Guthrie and his band have performed events including Milwaukee’s Summerfest — which was also featured on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Music — as well as the 30A Songwriter’s Festival in Florida, Wire and Wood Songwriter Festival in Alpharetta, GA, Jammin’ Java Listening Room in Vienna, VA, the Elbo Room in Chicago, IL and Eddie’s Attic in Atlanta, GA.

In the early stages of his career, Guthrie released his first album, Lessons Learned, and also scored the Atlanta Braves Band of the Year in 2014. In 2015, Guthrie and his band were awarded the Georgia Americana Artist of the Year — another astounding achievement bringing his music much-deserved attention and recognition. Within a short span of time, Guthrie was opening up for national touring artists including renowned BMLG Records recording Artist Drake White, RCA recording artist Bleachers, and famous Atlantic Records recording Artist Kelly Clarkson.

Singer-songwriter Alex Guthrie continues to impress and defy conventional expectations, making waves as he makes great music. A new album is currently being recorded and is expected to be released in Spring 2018.

More at alexguthriemusic.com.

Tyler Gregory

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Hailing from the rolling hills of Kansas, Tyler Gregory can regularly be found busking on city streets with his deep voice and steam-powered melodies bouncing off the street-side architecture. His sturdy songcraft takes cues from WWII-era blues bellowers like Leadbelly and Son House.

Gregory's mix of blues and roots music howls with a sense of passion and freedom. Singing songs portraying stories of travel, land, and the meaning of simplicity, Gregory goes full force on his guitar/stomp-box live performance arrangements.

OUR LINKS

• Tyler Gregory Homepage
• On Facebook
• On Twitter
• On MySpace

Carrie Nation & The Speakeasy

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Carrie Nation & the Speakeasy is a high-energy, acoustic brass 'n' grass outfit based out of Wichita, KS. The band, whose sound has been described as a stagecoach in overdrive, has brought their eclectic blend of punk, bluegrass, dixieland, and circus tunes to packed bars, basements, and festivals across the United States since 2007.

With tunes that cover just about everything from drinkin' to
dyin' to livin' and lyin', CNS can fill the dance floor with their blazing bluegrass and circus tunes as quickly as they can provoke existential introspection with dark, slinky tunes reminiscent of a New Orleans funeral march. Blaring trombones melt into break-neck banjo solos, while the "junkyard" trap set and stand-up bass churn out hard-driving rhythms that carry the force of a Kansas freight train.

This unique blend of styles combined with the high energy maintained on stage, allows CNS to fit perfectly into any lineup including folk, bluegrass, punk, metal, ska, or jam. Always providing an energetic and drink 'em down atmosphere to any place they play, Carrie Nation & the Speakeasy has proven a dedication to their live shows with a solid understanding of what entertainment really means.

OUR LINKS

• Carrie Nation & The Speakeasy Homepage
• On Facebook
• On MySpace

Whiskey for the Lady

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A fixture in the Kansas City "newgrass" scene for five years, Whiskey for the Lady is a high-energy melting pot of eclectic musical styles and wildly opposite personalities. That may be the formula that makes their music so well loved by young punk rockers and old time bluegrass-lovers alike. From festival set to porch session, the band's unique roots sound delivers an unforgettable live experience.

OUR LINKS

• Whiskey for the Lady Homepage
• On Facebook

The Maggie Valley Band

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The Pickin Pear

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The Gleaners

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Psycho Violets

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Bent Knee

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Bent Knee is unlike any band you’ve ever heard. Its borderless sound combines myriad influences from across the rock, pop, minimalist, and avant-garde spectrums into a seamless, thrilling whole. Its new album Land Animal—Bent Knee’s first for InsideOutMusic/Sony—takes its sound to a new level. It offers a suite of songs full of addictive hooks, lush melodies and enthralling twists and turns that capture the reality of life in the 21st Century—a reality of people and nations in the midst of tumultuous change. It also communicates a ray of hope and desire for listeners to embrace the fact that they’re not alone in their struggles.

“The silo-smashing Bent Knee’s unique mix is equal parts ingenuity and deliciousness,” said Jim Fusilli of the Wall Street Journal in 2016 when he first heard the group. “Bent Knee breaks new stylistic and temperamental ground,” declared Steve Smith of The Boston Globe. Other media outlets worldwide have reacted with similar enthusiasm, including NPR and the BBC, which have playlisted the band.

Bent Knee formed in 2009 as a democratic collective determined to push the boundaries of pop and rock. Lead singer and keyboardist Courtney Swain’s soaring vocals are instantly arresting. Guitarist Ben Levin is one of the most dynamic and versatile guitarists around, shifting between the raging and raucous to the sublime and meditative. Bassist Jessica Kion and drummer Gavin Wallace-Ailsworth combine into an enthralling rhythm section that’s equal parts powerhouse and nuance. Violinist Chris Baum’s kinetic violin work provides drama, grace and intrigue. World-class producer and live sound designer Vince Welch weaves it all together with a captivating, expert touch.

The band has gone from strength to strength in recent years. Its last two albums, 2016’s Say So and 2014’s Shiny Eyed Babies, were hailed as significant art-rock achievements. The group has performed hundreds of shows across the world to date. During the fall of 2016, the band played for ecstatic audiences as an opener for the U.S. leg of The Dillinger Escape Plan's farewell tour.

With Land Animal, Bent Knee has elevated its storytelling ambitions to create narratives that reflect and refract the currents we’re exposed to in the news every day.

“We’re at this bizarre point in history when our species can almost actively play God,” explained Baum, when discussing the themes running through the album. “We’re getting closer and closer through communication and technology. On the flip side, we still have many primal urges that have yet to evolve. There’s a strange balance between our technology and our biology that’s tremendously difficult to find. Land Animal explores where those animalistic urges come from and how we can harness and transform them to create a better reality.”

“The album has all kinds of songs about struggle,” added Levin. “We look at global warming, family strife, technology-mediated relationships, racism, and societal polarization. Each song is imbued with a dichotomy between who we are now as a species and where we’re going.”

As the band hits the road in support of the album, it intends to explore the diversity of thought amongst its ever-growing audience in a world where it's increasingly easy to live inside one's echo chamber of ideologies.

“I think our music is powerful and capable of uniting people with different perspectives,” said Kion. “They may think about things differently, but they’re there together, part of the concert. The fact that music and art can bring people together in that way is a really significant force that’s needed right now.”

“We haven’t made a political album with Land Animal,” said Wallace-Ailsworth. “However, it’s definitely motivated by the difficult state of the world at the moment. If people are able to take some comfort in our music or create dialog through it, those are great things for us.”

Like the band’s previous work, Land Animal is full of fresh, sophisticated arrangements and beautiful vocal harmonies, but it’s also its most direct statement to date.

“It’s a really juicy and immediate album,” said Swain. “With our previous album Say So, I think it took people a few listens to absorb its themes. That’s not the case with Land Animal, which delivers more instant gratification.”

“We tried to balance that with an appealing narrative arc,” said Welch. “The album starts with ‘Terror Bird,’ a song about individuals and communication issues and ends with ‘Boxes,’ a song that explores the fact that we’re all marching towards our own demise, so we better make the most of the time we have. Land Animal is an epic journey.”

At the end of the day, the band believes strongly in music as a force for positive change and delivering ideas no other medium is capable of.

“We believe music is the most efficient way to get a point across,” said Baum. “The only way to cut through the noise of a confused, globalized world is to create something that speaks directly to the soul, and that’s what we hope we’ve done with Land Animal.”

--

Land Animal releases on June 23, 2017. The album will be available in standard CD, deluxe edition digipak CD, vinyl + CD, and digital download configurations. It will also be available worldwide across every streaming platform, including Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Google Play, SoundCloud Go, and Amazon.

OUR LINKS

• Bent Knee Homepage
• On Facebook

Jorge Arana Trio

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Jorge Arana trio is an avant-rock group from Kansas City, MO. Formed early 2011, it features members of the defunct immigrant-son/noise-rock band Pixel Panda. JAT released their debut album 'Mapache' 10/26/12, an urgent and dark convergence of rock, jazz, noise, classical, horror, video game, free-form, punk, and incidental musics. Enthusiastic reviews and eager listeners shortly followed. 08/13, the trio was awarded 'Best Avant-Garde' group by Kansas City's Pitch Weekly. 11/05/13 marked the release of a 7" split with experimental-rock group Ambulants, featuring the trio's first collaboration with violinist Chaski Zapata-Dye. A tour to the east followed, then several performances at Austin during SXSW14. The new ep 'Oso' was released 07/22/14 on 12" vinyl from Haymaker Records. With origins stemming pre-trio, Oso carries with it doses of nostalgia, surf rock, horror film sounds, and the persistence of sophisticated perplexity.


Jorge Arana - Guitar/Keys
Jason Nash - Bass
Josh Enyart - Drums

----PRESS----

Reviews

Oso EP

"On the whole, it feels more raw than The Mars Volta ever did, making me to feel like I was listening to some kind of unholy offspring of At The Drive-In and John Coltrane"
-Fecking Bahamas

"In constant jeopardy of lapsing into staid routine, jazz needs an occasional swift kick in the pants. The Jorge Arana Trio is providing the uncomfortable wallop to Kansas City's jazz scene."
-Plastic Sax

"Jorge Arana Trio has proven through relentless live shows, and most recently onOSO, that experimentation and writing outside the box is something we can all relate to."
-Deli Magazine

Mapache LP

"Free like knife-fighters, trying to save their energies and moments for the right move at the right time but seething with excitement over the open field of opportunities."
-Misfit City

"These three adventurous fellows use their musical wanderlust to carve up twelve short sketches that cover free jazz, fusion, prog-jazz, metal, noise rock, and pretty much anything they deem necessary to move the story forward."
-Deli Magazine

"Compositionally, the album is a bit of a beast."
-Is This Revolutionary?

"It plays out like a night that started with the best intentions & ended in bone-crushing, karmic chaos ...but beautiful chaos...quiet, deranged, pulchritudinous chaos."
-Kill Your TV

"Jazzy virtuosity in the cassette world isn't something I hear too often, yet with the debut album by the Jorge Arana Trio, that is all I hear."
-Cassette Gods

"It's playful, clever and heavy and the approach to song writing never feels forced or overly improvised. It's a good balance. The recording itself sounds really good as well. Damn good."
-Dead Formats

Interview

On the Beat with Josh Enyart
-Deli Magazine

An Interview: Jorge Arana of Jorge Arana Trio
-KCMusicJudged

Other

Jorge Arana Trio Keeps Evolving and Experimenting
-Ink Magazine

Best Avant-Garde group (award 2013)
-Pitch Weekly

OUR LINKS

• Jorge Arana Trio Homepage
• On Facebook
• On Youtube

Le Grand

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States & Capitals

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Forts Like Vana

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Lord Nelson

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Biography
Lord Nelson has won many fans over the last several years with their spirited live performances and serious musical chops. Those fans should raise a glass, because they’re about to get their ears blown off with the new full-length album Through the Night, set for a late spring release. The album possesses a depth of sound that can only come from the frequent addition of piano, organ, and horns to guitar-based rock. This set of songs, written on the road and between tours, explores dark themes of relationships, the political climate of the country, and what it means to spend your days in a van, traveling the highways of America.

Musically, the songs don’t hesitate to dive deep into grooves, peeling off that outer layer of song craft to illustrate a wide palate. With haunting guitars, a driving rhythm section, and big chorus’, this album represents a thin coat of finish on a hard worn sound. The lead-off single “Tail Lights” grapples with the joys and challenges of the road for those on it and those left at home. Other standout tracks include the powerful “Second Chances,” the zeitgeist commentary of “Southern Discomfort” and “Safety Meeting.” A moment of levity with the swamp tinged “Good Time” provides a snapshot into the simple pleasures.

Produced over the last year by Dave Stipe (Rockfish Music) at Monkeyclaus Studio in Nelson County, VA, the record has a full, Rock’n’Roll identity, heavily laced with Americana and Soul. Whether it’s a fat horn section under a slide guitar riff, propelling it powerfully forward, or a harmony vocal giving the song an extra dimension, the album illustrates the power of a band bringing lyric driven songs to full expression. As anyone who has seen their live show will tell you, while there are several excellent solos and impressive individual moments, the thing that gets you – the thing that keeps you coming back – is that full sound. Sonically, the band is greater than the sum of its parts, in the best possible way.

The unified musicianship of the band serves as a solid home base for the searching lyrics of lead singer and guitarist Kai Crowe-Getty. In addition, the band’s multi-instrumentalist, Henry Jones, takes a break from keys and trombone to jump on the mic for a few tracks, bringing an R&B urgency. The current lineup includes Jones’s brother Calloway on lead guitar, Andrew Hollifield on bass, and Johnny Stubblefield behind the sticks. With a full tour of the east coast and points west in the works, this is a band in command of their sound, bringing strong songs in hard times to towns across the country. Keep your head up.

An Evening of Horror with Alice Sweet Alice

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Other Perfomrer:
Anya Neeze
The Last Carnival
T-Rav Nero

Scrappy''''''''s Attic

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Ozark Stomp

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The Perfect Pursuit

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Amore Et Bellum

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Amanda Fish

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Amanda Fish began as a singer songwriter in late 2012, refining her original material as a solo act for 2 years before she formed her band in early 2014, a Roots Rock and Soul project featuring Amanda's signature 'from-the-gut' vocals locked into a sturdy groove.

In 2015, she released her first LP, "Down In The Dirt", on VizzTone Label Group, for which she was awarded the 2016 "Sean Costello Rising Star" Blues Blast Music Award. Amanda and her band set Beale Street on fire in the 2017 International Blues Challenge Semi Finals, playing new material slated for her next release.

E100

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E100 is a three piece Rock'n Soul band, all twanged out and custom built with pride in Northeastern Kansas.

OUR LINKS

• On MySpace

Fall Risk

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Based out of Lawrence, KS, Fall Risk is a jazz + funk band comprised of 9 KU students. They specialize in high energy arrangements of popular songs and party standards ranging from the 1960's all the way up to current top 40 chart toppers. The horn section adds a groovy twist to the typical rock band set up. The band operates as a music collective, featuring singers, soloists, composers and arrangers.

Desmond Jones

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Lawrence Field Day Fest Pre-Party

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Lawrence Field Day Fest 2018

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Lawrence Field Day Fest 2018

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Black Site Lawrence Field Day Fest

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Stacked Like Pancakes

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SOLARS

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Ben Miller Band

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Ben Miller – vocals/guitar/banjo
Scott Leeper – one-string washtub bass
Doug Dicharry – drums/trombone/trumpet/mandolin/electric washboard/spoons

"I like the idea of saying something very complicated in a very simple way," says Ben Miller, discussing the trio that bears his name. "That's what we strive for musically, and what I strive for lyrically—to get directly to the point and save the flowery b.s. for the romantic poets. John Sargent, the painter, said 'That which is not necessary is detrimental,' and we try to live by that."

Since its formation in 2004, the Ben Miller Band has staked out a singular niche that's established the Joplin, Missouri threesome as both a potent creative force and a perennial fan favorite. Any Way, Shape or Form, the BMB's New West debut release, showcases the seasoned threesome's fierce creative spirit and infectious performing chemistry, as well as Miller's melodically catchy, lyrically resonant songwriting.

On Any Way, Shape or Form, the Ben Miller Band channels a century's worth of wide-ranging influences into 13 new songs that radiate with energy, smarts and soul. The result is music that's wholly contemporary, while ringing with ages-old echoes of bluegrass, delta blues, Appalachian mountain music and more. A stew they lovingly call “ozark stomp.”

Miller writes roots-rocking barnburners ("The Outsider," "Burning Building"), thoughtful ballads ("I Feel for You," "Prettiest Girl") and left-field departures ("23 Skidoo") with melodic skill and lyrical insight, and the band elucidates them with urgency and eloquence. While those tunes show off Miller's songwriting craftsmanship, a memorable workout on the traditional "The Cuckoo" underlines the band's interpretive abilities.

The hard working threesome has already won a substantial—and still-growing—grassroots fan base through old-fashioned ingenuity and an unstinting work ethic. Their D.I.Y. success helped to win the band its current deal with New West, and led to some high profile touring with ZZ Top, thanks to the enthusiastic patronage of avowed fan Billy Gibbons. Opening for ZZ Top on a 2013 tour of Europe, the humble BMB wowed unfamiliar crowds on stages in large halls and arenas, including a triumphant set at the fabled Montreaux Jazz Festival.

The Ben Miller Band's homespun, self-reliant approach extends to the lo-tech, and largely self-built, instruments that the members play on stage and in the studio, e.g. singer-songwriter Miller's thrift-shop guitars and banjos, bassist Scott Leeper's one-string washtub bass – comprised of a weedeater string attached to a wooden pole – and Doug Dicharry's varied arsenal: trombone, trumpet, mandolin, electric washboard and electric spoons.

The band's use of offbeat instrumentation, however, shouldn't be misunderstood as a gimmick. Instead, the three bandmates have mastered the technical challenges of their unconventional axes to produce a uniquely evocative ensemble sound that offers a compelling frame for Miller's compositions.

"What I really care about is songs, and the rest of it is just a vehicle to get you to that destination," Miller asserts, adding, "Just because we use junk to make music doesn't mean we aren't serious about it."

"Our sound," Dicharry notes, "is something that we never thought much about. It's just something that kept growing without us really trying, and at some point we realized it sounded pretty cool."

"The instruments that we use ," Miller explains, "were originally born out of necessity, because we didn't have any money. People would give us their old gear that didn't work anymore, and we'd wire things together and try things out in different permutations and see where it led us. Through a lot of trial and error, we arrived at the set up that we've got now. Blazing your own trail through the jungle can take a lot of extra time and effort, but it gives you a chance to end up in a place that nobody's been to before."

That sense of musical adventure has long driven Miller and this bandmates from the start. Growing up in rural Curlew, Washington, Miller began playing guitar at 16, turning his back on a promising career as a visual artist to pursue his passion for music. He gained experience busking and performing in open mic nights while roadtripping around America, and during an extended stint in Eastern Europe.

Miller eventually found kindred spirits in bassist Scott Leeper, who'd been playing since the age of seven and had performed with his family's band, in a duo with his brother, as a one-man country act and in a variety of blues combos; and Doug Dicharry, a musical omnivore and multi-instrumentalist, who can play nearly any instrument and has played in a wide array of projects from noise bands to ska and rock.

The three like-minded players joined forces, and soon their diligent touring regimen allowed them to conquer an ever-widening geographical base and win a loyal live audience. In 2012, the Ben Miller Band took its first tentative steps in the recording studio, resulting in the embryonic self-released CD Heavy Load, which attracted a good deal of fan praise and critical acclaim despite its humble origins.

The same maverick spirit that motivated the BMB's early musical adventures came into play in the recording Any Way, Shape or Form, which they cut with seasoned producer Vance Powell, who's renowned for his studio work with the likes of Jack White, Buddy Guy, Wanda Jackson, Willie Nelson and Kings of Leon.

"Our original plan," Leeper notes, "was to scale it down a bit, and have it be even less produced than the first one. It came out sounding like us, which is all we really want."

"It was the first time we'd really had a producer/engineer," Dicharry notes, adding "It felt like we could finally breathe, because Vance was on top of things and got some really cool textures. We had a lot of confidence in him, so we were comfortable just going in and laying it down."

"We wanted to keep it as live as possible," Miller asserts, "so we recorded it live and did lots of takes, on average around thirty takes before we felt we really nailed it down. That was important to us because we’ve been a live band for our whole career and we wanted that to come across in the recordings, that feeling of guys playing in a space together. We worked long days in the studio for about a month, just playing the songs over and over and working to push our performances and maintain the energy of what we do.”

With Any Way, Shape or Form encapsulating the Ben Miller Band's salient qualities, the three intrepid bandmates are eager to hit the road and bring their new songs to live crowds around the nation and around the world.

"Our plan," Leeper says, "is to just get out there and play for as many people as we can. That's pretty much been our plan all along, and it's worked for us so far."

"The title Any Way, Shape or Form is sort of our way of saying that by any means necessary we will make the music that makes sense to us,” Miller explains. “That’s always been our attitude, and that’s how we’ve gotten to where we are and how we will get to where we are going.”

OUR LINKS

• Ben Miller Band Homepage
• On Facebook
• On Twitter

Rolling Foliage

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Thunderkat

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Based in Lawrence, Kansas, ThunderKat stands as the city’s premier 80s hard rock cover band. Voted by Best of Lawrence from 2013-2016 as a top local act, the band delivers a diverse collection of hits from Motley Crue, Poison, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Journey, AC/DC, Night Ranger, Billy Idol, Van Halen, Joan Jett, Prince and more. You won’t want to miss the ear-splitting spectacle of ThunderKat!

OUR LINKS

• Thunderkat Homepage

Rayland Baxter

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Thoreau had Walden Pond. Kerouac had Big Sur. Rayland Baxter? He had an old rubber band factory in Franklin, Kentucky, and it suited him just fine. As one of the hardest-touring artists on the road today, Baxter’s spent most of his professional life in transit, but ever since he was a kid, he dreamed of creative seclusion someplace lonely and isolated, somewhere he could sit still and devote his every waking hour to writing without interruption or distraction. When the opportunity finally presented itself in late 2016, the Nashville native pounced.

“I packed everything in my van and moved to Franklin for three months,” says Baxter. “It was the fist time I ever got to be alone and focus solely on songs like that. All I did was write, write, write all day every day. I was obsessed.”

By the time Baxter emerged, he’d penned more than 50 tunes and crafted a detailed blueprint for his spectacular new album, ‘Wide Awake.’ Deftly produced by Butch Walker, the record infuses Baxter’s easygoing, soulful sound with British Invasion melodies and rock and roll swagger, marrying lean, muscular songwriting with adventurous, inventive arrangements. It’s a cutting, insightful collection, one that takes a sardonic view the violence, greed, and division that seem to define the modern American landscape. Rather than point a finger, though, the music holds up a mirror, offering a sober reflection of the times thoughtfully bundled in bright, infectious hooks. There’s no judgment here, only keen observation, and Baxter implicates himself as much as his neighbor through it all.

“This is an album about decision making,” he explains. “It’s about being a human at the crossroads. Do I do good or do I do evil? Do I lie or do I tell the truth? Am I going to be happy or am I going to be sad? All of these questions and emotions are things I see in myself, and they’re the same things I see in everyone else no matter where I go.”

Baxter’s built a career on capturing those sorts of timeless, deeply human sentiments, bringing colorful characters to vivid life with equal parts humor and pathos. His debut album, ‘feathers & fishhooks,’ was a critical hit praised by Interviewfor its “well-worn maturity,” whileNPR described “Yellow Eyes,” the lead single from his 2015 follow-up, ‘Imaginary Man,’ as “close-to-perfect.” Stereogumdubbed the record “an impeccable sophomore break-out,” and Rolling Stonehailed its pairing of “whimsical narrative with often deceptively complex arrangements.” The music earned Baxter festival appearances from Bonnaroo to Newport Folk in addition to tours with an astonishing array of artists, including Jason Isbell, The Lumineers, Kacey Musgraves, The Head and The Heart, Shakey Graves, Lauryn Hill, and Grace Potter.

“The six months leading up to the release of ‘Imaginary Man,’ that was the first time I really started playing electric guitar and performing with a band,” says Baxter. “We did my first headline run and toured that album for a year-and-a-half, and the experience really opened up this whole new sound for me. It helped me figure out more of who I was as an artist and a songwriter and a traveler and a human being.”

It was with that newfound sense of self that Baxter entered Thunder Sound, the abandoned rubber band factory-turned-studio in the cornfields of Kentucky that would become his home for three months of intensive soul searching and songwriting.

“I blanketed the windows so no one could see inside,” he explains. “I laid a mattress down next to an old Wurlitzer so I had somewhere to sleep. I had a guitar, a desk with a lamp and some paper and pencils, and that was it. For fifteen hours a day, I wrote.”

When it came time to record his mountain of new songs, Baxter relocated to Santa Monica, California, where he wrangled an all-star studio band that included Dr. Dog’s Erick Slick on drums, Butch Walker on bass, Cage The Elephant’s Nick Bockrath on guitar, and piano wizard Aaron Embry (Elliott Smith, Brian Eno) on keys. A producer and artist equally at home working with massive pop stars and indie stalwarts, Walker immediately embraced Baxter’s vision for the album, and the result is a sunny and altogether charming collection. Scratch beneath the surface, though, and you’ll find it’s populated by a cast of characters who project a vision of the good life as they struggle to keep it all together behind closed doors. On the punchy ‘Casanova,’ the singer reckons with debts he knows he’ll never be able to repay,while the volatile “Amelia Baker” charts the narrator’s descent into near-madness as he pines for a starlet perpetually out of reach.

“We have this society where we’re obsessed with celebrity and living on the top of the mountain,” says Baxter. “But what’s at the top? Maybe it’s a lonely place to wake up.”

Late 2016 was a particular tumultuous time in the country, and though Baxter did his best to isolate himself from the outside world while he wrote, it was inevitable that some of the chaos would seep in. On album opener “Strange American Dream,” a chiming piano and spare Motown groove give way to lush harmonies and unexpected melodic twists as Baxter sings, “I close my eyes and realize that I’m alive inside this strange American dream.” Meanwhile, the soaring “79 Shiny Revolvers” finds him reflecting, “you really wanna save the world, man / well, I wanna save it, too / we can blow ’em away / the American way.”

While ‘Wide Awake’ offers plenty of broad, wide-angle musings, some of its most arresting moments arrive bundled inside deeply personal memories and snapshots. The heartfelt “Everything To Me” is a tender tribute to family (Baxter’s father Bucky, who played pedal steel with Bob Dylan and Ryan Adams among others, contributes to the record), and the laidback “Let It All Go Man” is a reminder that there’s beauty in simply being alive.

“I actually started that song two years ago on a trip to South America,” says Baxter. “I was sitting on the porch of a house in this little town in Colombia, and I was all alone playing a gut string classical guitar, just staring out at the ocean and the beach in the middle of the night. It made me realize how much unnecessary stuff we hold on to, all the grinding away we do chasing success and money and missing the big picture. It made me realize what an incredibly beautiful gift it is to be human.”

That empty South American beach may have been a world away from the rubber band factory in Kentucky, but for Baxter, the effect was the same. The solitude offered a chance to observe, to reflect, to grow, to appreciate, and most importantly, to write.

OUR LINKS

• Rayland Baxter Homepage
• On Facebook

Delhi 2 Dublin

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Delhi 2 Dublin continues to break the mold one album after another, busting genres as they go. It’s as if the band has been sent on a mission to further spread their sound across the planet and out into the galaxy. They describe the 2010-release of Planet Electric “as the buzz of the world that they are plugging into some large socket to electrify the people, to charge up their energy”. To capture that dynamism, all of the tracks on the album were road-tested in front of live audiences before being recorded. Something else the band did differently from the last album was going on a writers’ retreat where they worked on the music day and night for ten days straight. The results are definitely more representative of Delhi 2 Dublin as a band and a noticeable progression. The icing on the cake was being able to get Diamond “DJ Swami” Duggal (Apache Indian/Maxi Priest/Nusrat Fateh Ali) to mix the tracks.

Hour Magazine wrote that “Delhi 2 Dublin is the United Nations of rock ‘n’ roll”. The Vancouver, Canada-based band plays an energetic mash-up of Bhangra, Celtic, Dub, Reggae and Electronica with global rhythms and club beats. Tarun Nayar, Sanjay Seran, Andrew Kim and Ravi Binning, along with guest musicians Jaron Freeman-Fox and Sara Fitzpatrick, are diverse in both their backgrounds and musical influences. The band has been together almost six years and has released four full-length albums plus the latest EP, Delhi 2 Dubland.

Back in 2006, a live collaboration put together as a one-off performance piece for a club-night in Vancouver called “Delhi to Dublin” was so well-received that requests for additional performances led to the official formation of Delhi 2 Dublin. “Not being able to fit into any specific genre allows the band to create whatever we like and not be judged for it. Our audience expects nothing less.” The band finds this advantageous for their live show as it enables them to create a flow to their sets much like a DJ would for the dance floor. “Audiences love to see a band transcending stereotypes and letting the music speak for itself”.

The Delhi 2 Dublin crew are road warriors. They have played major festivals in both Canada and the U.S. including Bumbershoot in Seattle, Earthdance in California, Canada Day on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Stern Grove in San Francisco as well as such diverse events as SXSW in Austin, TX, the Keelung City Ghost Festival in Taiwan, the BaliSpirit Festival in Indonesia and the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The band has an ambitious schedule planned for 2012 kicking off with a handful of dates throughout the westcoast, as well as expanding horizons to include performances in Asia and Europe. In addition, a fresh new album is in the works to be released later this year. Delhi 2 Dublin has become one of Canada’s most buzzed-about bands and 2012 will only see them enhancing that reputation. After all…where else are you going to see a kick-ass fiddle player rocking out with a kilt-wearing Korean flanked by two bouncing Bhangra percussionists and a vocalist who looks like he would be at home in a Bollywood music video?

OUR LINKS

• Delhi 2 Dublin Homepage
• On MySpace

Maria the Mexican

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Charlie Hunter Trio

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Hunter consistently ups his game as an innovative writer and bandleader. He has worked with the likes of Norah Jones , Mos Def, John Mayer, D’Angelo and countless others. He is widely considered the authority on the seven and eight - string guitar, and continues to stun audiences with his ability to simultaneously bust out tasty bass parts, melodic leads and swinging rhythms.

Hunter has previously recorded for the venerable Blue Note label, Concord, Ropeadope, GroundUP and others. His recent independent venture is steered by his motivation to release music that most inspires him. Critics have touted his genius technique, but it's his profound artistic sensibility that propels his original music. Hunter's signature style of writing and performing has secured his place as one of today's great guitarists.

Lou Dog ( Sublime Tribute)

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3 Son Green

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Since 2007, 3 Son Green has been interweaving their vast web of sound, sense, and solidarity into the ever‐evolving architect it has become. Their RockJamJazzFunk style breaks genre bylaws, and pulls crowds out of their seats everywhere they play. 3 Son Green’s intricate songwriting combined with their natural improvisation is guaranteed to satisfy every music lover’s palette. Their well fueled, expanding flame has, even now, lapped at the feet of the music world at all manner of festivals across the Midwest. These Kansas City grown virtuosos are vaulting to new heights, and leaving no slack behind.

Jamie Anderson – Guitar/Vocals
Evan Carlson – Guitar/Vocals
Steven Pearson – Drums
Trey Green – Bass/Vocals

OUR LINKS

• 3 Son Green Homepage
• On Facebook
• On Spotify (Will launch Spotify Application)
• On MySpace

SALES

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Longtime friends and collaborators, Lauren Morgan and Jordan Shih, have been known as SALES since 2013 when they released their first single, “renee”.



After self-releasing a string of singles online (“chinese new year”, “getting it on”, “vow”), the duo self-released their eponymous debut EP in September 2014 and were named “Ones to Watch” by Hype Machine + BBC 6. The EP also featured a remix track with electronic producer, XXYYXX.



Their debut album SALES LP was self-released on April 20, 2016 and it featured the singles “big sis”, “ivy”, and “jamz”.



Their highly anticipated second LP will be self-released in July 2018 and it features the singles “talk a lot” and “off and on”.



SALES have headlined tours in the US, Canada, and Europe. The independent duo continues to self-release their work, which is recorded, mixed, and mastered in their Orlando, FL bedroom studio.

No Vacation

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Lost Dog Street Band

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Matt Heckler

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Bad Bad Hats

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Cumulus

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Juice

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Fall Risk

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Based out of Lawrence, KS, Fall Risk is a jazz + funk band comprised of 9 KU students. They specialize in high energy arrangements of popular songs and party standards ranging from the 1960's all the way up to current top 40 chart toppers. The horn section adds a groovy twist to the typical rock band set up. The band operates as a music collective, featuring singers, soloists, composers and arrangers.

Steve n Seagulls

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Restless String Band

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Saintseneca

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Foxing

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Youngblood Supercult

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Eric Schwartz

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Eric Schwartz is a comedian, actor, voiceover artist, musician and content creator. In addition to television appearances on Showtime, the Tonight Show, Comics Unleashed, BET and his one-hour special, “Surrender to the Blender,” on Hulu, Eric is know for his popular digital stand-up clips, sketches and parody videos. He has been going viral long before social media existed and continues to deliver hit after hit to his growing and engaged online fanbase.

This multi-dimensional showman’s stand up, sketches, songs and characters have led to content collaborations with Grammy-winner Jason Mraz, Craig Robinson, Anjelah Johnson, Tiffany Haddish, Disney, Yahoo, HLN, Machinima, Maker Studios, MiTu Networks and more.

On stage, Eric is one of the most creative and original comedians working today, earning the description, “everything there is to love about entertainment” (First Order Historians). GQ India names him one of “5 International Comics You Must Catch.” “E! News Daily” host Ryan Seacrest said Schwartz is “rocking the web” with “video that’s got everyone Googling” and Forbes.com applauds him for having “a minor industry in pop music parodies.”

The Districts

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Reverend Horton Heat

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It’s true that the Reverend Horton Heat have been called a great many things over the course of their storied career: Perpetual Carriers Of The Rockabilly Flame, Genre-Shattering Problem Children, Filthy Drunks, and The Most Electrifying Live Act In America (150 shows every year can’t be wrong). But whatever you happen to call them, their country-flavored punkabilly and onstage antics have brought the Reverend Horton Heat a strikingly diverse fan base and a devoted cult following. The Rev himself, aka Jim Heath, leads the way with signature guitar riffs, while pounding out the bottom notes (often on top of) his upright bass is Jimbo Wallace, while Scott Churilla keeps time on the drums.

OUR LINKS

• Reverend Horton Heat Homepage
• On MySpace

Unknown Hinson

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Delta Bombers

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Ezra Furman

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Transangleic

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Exodus

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Colony House

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Watermelon Slim

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