Singer songwriter Kara Suzanne and her band The Gojo Hearts, compose country rock inspired by the likes of The Band, Emmylou Harris, Wilco, Neil Young, Leon Russell, and Dolly Parton. Kara blends bluesy Americana, traditional country rock, and folk in her original arrangements. Her voice and songwriting is often compared to Aimee Mann, Patty Griffin, and Neko Case. Her debut album "Aumsville" recently won Best Album of the Year Vox Populi from the Independent Music Awards. She can be seen performing regularly at venues in NYC and Brooklyn venues such as Irving Plaza, The Living Room, Southpaw, and Luna Lounge as well as recent appearances at The Sundance Film Festival, The Nantucket Film Festival and The Hampton's Film Festival.
The integrity of New Orleans-born Kenny Cambre's sound is as thick as the delta mud in which he stands up to his gut while on stage. With one foot rooted in "the tradition" and the other pointed forward, Cambre's rusty-honey voice and poetic, lyrical narrative paint a portrait of undeniable suffering, brushed with broad strokes of humor and optimism. His melodies feel familiar upon first listen, like something you'd heard in a dream. His debut album (which recently won Discmakers 2008 Independent Music World Series), "The Guy You Cheer For," is the kind of record that stays in your CD tray for days on end; you catch yourself singing his songs while grocery shopping. Many before him have stepped on stage with only an acoustic guitar, sure, but when all is said and done, history, no doubt, will recognize him as a pure and gifted soul who had inherited all his influences' genius and carried the form into the present. He is often seen playing around NYC & Kings County at venues such as The Living Room, The Sidewalk Café and Luna Lounge.
While the Reverend John DeLore readily admits to being self-ordained, he insists that his “congregation”—which consists of only himself, and which accepts no new members—be taken seriously. And rightfully so. Backed by solid rock arrangements, DeLore’s songs range from a whisper to a roar, and every lyric seems carefully hewn from literary stone. “Henry Miller, Dostoevski, Hemingway, Bukowski. Those are my gospels,” he says. “They all understand that there’s only a very thin line between throwing your hands up in spiritual jubilation and throwing them up when laughing in the face of a strange, uncaring world.” In his songs, one finds plenty of characters who walk this thin line, sometimes in wellworn workboots (the narrator in “Careless Lips”), and sometimes in gaudy highheels (the mistress in “The Art of War”). With his talent for marrying the well-crafted lyric to the well-crafted song, the Reverend John DeLore explores new boundaries of the LitRock genre. You should take him seriously. But “not too seriously,” he insists. “The best sermons always have a punchline.” Amen, Reverend. Amen.
Steve Lewis After hitching up and down the lost highway, Alabama Steve finally caught a ride to New York City. He met lots of mighty fine folk there, many players with whom he struck up friendships, and then they set off on travels anew. Steve takes the folk and country blues styles and does something new with them – it’s music from just left of the middle, jump tunes from the inter-war period, although which wars we can’t rightly say. If there is another world, an alternate reality, then Steve is probably from that one. How he got here no one knows, and where he’s going is where the wind blows.
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