 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Jeff Black
 Jeff Black’s songs begin in a personal place, often hidden back in the darkness, yet they always strive to illuminate. Black is a burly, bare-knuckled, blue-collar son of the Missouri plains with dark Irish blood who digs into tough topics with a gentle heart. There’s nothing predictable about a Jeff Black lyric other than it will be sung robustly and will head towards hope instead of dwell on despair.
Black’s fourth album, Tin Lily, is as hard to pin down as his previous work, where he has collaborated with everyone from rock experimentalists Wilco to Americana favorite Iris Dement to progressive bluegrass stalwart Sam Bush.
The song cycle on Tin Lily exemplifies the duality that makes Jeff Black such a compelling, vital and important performing songwriter.
“Black is an artist of substance,” wrote Billboard in a review that compared his piano ballads to Randy Newman and his rockers to Bruce Springsteen. Paste magazine adds, “The search for spiritual sustenance and lasting meaning underpins Black’s reverent, battling-the-darkness-and-winning songs.”
As anyone who’s seen his moving, funny, and unpredictable concerts already knows, he never plays the same show twice, pulling from his commercial catalog Birmingham Road (Arista, 1998); Honey And Salt (Blue Rose, 2003); B-Sides And Confessions Volume One (Dualtone, 2003); and the new music on Tin Lily. What makes a Jeff Black record or show exciting is that, as a listener, you know the singer is there not to perform for you, but to take you on a journey with him.
www.jeffblack.com
|
|  Sam Bush
Though he admits a certain discomfort with the moniker “King of Newgrass,” Sam Bush has more than earned it. As cofounder and leader of the seminal progressive bluegrass band New Grass Revival through 18 years during the 1970s and ’80s, Bush may not be the only person responsible for newgrass — the wild bluegrass stepchild that features rock ’n’ roll grooves and extended virtuosic jams — but since New Grass Revival’s dissolution in 1989, Bush has certainly been one of the most brilliant of newgrass’ many bright lights.
Besides helming the ever-popular Sam Bush Band, featured on his latest release Laps in Seven, the mandolin prodigy from Kentucky has been a prodigious influence on musicians young and old. Bands like Nickel Creek, Yonder Mountain String Band, and String Cheese Incident, to name just a few, are indebted to Bush’s example, not only in his wide-ranging choice of material and rock-based acoustic grooves, but by his captivating, high-energy live shows, which have made him an in-demand headliner, and fan fave at important festivals like Telluride and MerleFest.
When not heading his own band, Bush has spent the past 15 years as a super-sideman with the likes of Emmylou Harris, Lyle Lovett, and the Flecktones; spearheaded boundary-stretching collaborations with Edgar Meyer, Mark O’Connor, and David Grisman; and driven nearly every “bluegrass supergroup” imaginable with his inimitable mandolin playing.
Sam Bush’s ability to be continually touched and amazed by new music may be the quality that makes him such a successful and virtuosic performer and bandleader. He helped create newgrass music almost 35 years ago, but Laps in Seven is evidence that he’s still as vital a presence on the acoustic music scene as ever.
www.sambush.com
|
 Andrea Zonn
The oldest child in a musical family, Andrea Zonn began to study the violin at age 5. She started fiddling at age 10, and traveled the contest circuit around the prairies of her native Illinois. At 14 she was accepted as a freshman violin major at the University of Illinois.
Two years later she transferred to Vanderbilt University, where she won numerous classical violin competitions and was awarded a fellowship to the prestigious Aspen Music Festival. That same year, she won the National Fiddle Championship in Winfield, Kansas. Her voice and fiddle have graced recordings by Vince Gill, Linda Ronstadt and Ann Savoy, Keb Mo, George Jones, T Bone Burnett, Neil Diamond, Amy Grant, Mickey Newbury, Alison Krauss, Sam Bush and countless others.
Some of the folks she’s toured with include Vince Gill, Lyle Lovett, Trisha Yearwood, Alison Brown, Jerry Douglas and, currently, James Taylor.
Andrea’s own music is a finely crafted blend of these influences and others, including her deep classical roots. Her debut release, Love Goes On, was met with critical acclaim. The Country Music Critics’ Poll named her one of 2003’s Top 10 New Acts.
In 2005 Andrea co-produced Hands Across the Water: A Benefit for the Children of the Tsunami (Compass Records), a collection of collaborations between American folk artists and their Celtic counterparts. Among the more than 100 musicians who contributed to the charity project were John Prine, Rodney Crowell, Altan, Vince Gill, Lunasa, Cerys Matthews and Jackson Browne.
www.andreazonn.com
|
|
|
|
 |
|
