ARTISTS 2022
BONNY LIGHT HORSEMAN
The timeless qualities of traditional tunes can carry us across oceans and eons, linking us not only to the past but to each other as well. It was under the banner of those eternal connections that the trio of Bonny Light Horseman came together. From Wisconsin festival fields and a German art hub to a snowy upstate studio and everywhere in between, the astral folk outfit—comprised of Anaïs Mitchell, Eric D. Johnson, and Josh Kaufman—is mixing the ancient, mystical medium of transatlantic traditional folk music with a contemporary, collective brush. The resulting album, Bonny Light Horseman, is an elusive kind of sonic event: a bottled blend of lightning and synergy that will excite fans of multiple genres, eras, and ages.
BRETT DENNEN
Brett Dennen is telling us to get out and see the world at a time when we need it more than ever. Flame-haired, six-foot-five, and with a singular gift for meditating on life's most meaningful subjects with equal parts innocence and razor sharp wit, you know Dennen from his decade-plus career as a singer/songwriter. With a successful string of albums and four Top Ten AAA singles like "Make You Crazy," "Wild Child," and 2018's "Already Gone," which achieved his highest chart position yet, Dennen has cemented himself as a fixture in American folk music. What you may not know about Brett is that he did not set out to be a professional musician. It is a surprising revelation for someone who embodies the best of songwriting: singular storytelling, singability, and the unique capacity to hold up a mirror to our lives, our society, and the greater world.
Brett Dennen doesn't take his time on his beloved earth for granted. He is intent on exploring the world and exploring himself in the process. Hence, See The World. The album also happens to come at what we hope will be a turning point for all of us -- where we all hope to be doing just what Brett wants for us -- seeing the world. Quite tangible in the title track and the album as a whole is Dennen's newest and greatest pursuit -- that of father to his young son, Van, for whom this song was written. But it is also easy to imagine him writing it for all of us, gently encouraging us to pick up the paint brush, jump in the ocean, and climb whatever mountain lies in front of us. Peppered in equal parts with shrewd quips and vulnerable admissions, the album is ultimately an exploration of life's deepest meaning. And that is certainly emblematic of Brett Dennen, who spans wide as both an artist and a human being -- sometimes biting and somehow always generous of spirit -- his arms out to meet you where you are. See The World is, in short, reflective of a life well-explored, a life well-pursued, and, we can hope, a life well-lived.
HEATHER MALONEY
After over 1,000 live shows and more than a decade of touring behind studio albums, Heather Maloney is set to release her first live album, “No Shortcuts | Live at the Academy” in June of 2022 on the celebrated indie label, Signature Sounds.
The Massachusetts-based “writer song-singer” found music in the midst of three years at a meditation center, honing a sound moored in days of silent reflection and reverence for storytellers like Joni, Rilke, Ken Burns, and the anonymous authors of Zen parables. And while she eventually traded the quiet, structured life as a yogi for the kinetic life a touring musician, the core of her songwriting remains centered around same curiosity about our inner world and the desire to articulate it through storytelling. She now has eight studio album releases under her belt, each one marked by inspiring collaborations with musicians, songwriters and producers.
On Heather’s 2019 album, Soil In The Sky, her “ability to channel emotion is radical” (PopMatters) and the tracks are stacked with special guests who help her deliver an immense range of sound and sentiment in 12 songs; there’s a duet with Dawes front-man Taylor Goldsmith on the Walt Whitman-inspired love song “We Were Together”, an appearance by Rachael Price on the album’s opening track “Enigma”, and Jay Ungar lends his legendary folk fiddle to “Oklahoma Lullaby”, a song inspired by Ken Burns’ documentary The Dustbowl. (Ungar composed Ashokan Farewell in Burns’ The Civil War). The all-star band includes drummer Griffin Goldsmith (Dawes), and multiple members of the Amos Lee band.
The Bluegrass Situation called her 2015 release, Making Me Break (produced by Band of Horses’ Bill Reynolds) “an intoxicating blend that captures the sonic texture of indie rock, the humanity of folk and the spirituality of a Rumi poem.”
Heather has toured throughout the US & Canada as a headliner and also in support of acts including Lake Street Dive, Shakey Graves, Gary Clark Jr., Rodrigo y Gabriela, Colin Hay (Men at Work), Mary Chapin Carpenter, Shawn Colvin, Dar Williams and many more.
SUNNY WAR
It’s no secret that great art comes from the margins. From those who are either pushed to create from inner forces, or who create to show they deserve to be recognized. Los Angeles-based street singer, guitarist, and roots music revolutionary Sunny War has always been an outsider, always felt the drive to define her place in the world through music and songwriting.
As a young black girl growing up in Nashville, she searched for her own roots, looking first to the blues she heard from her mother’s boyfriend, and learning from a local guitarist. Moving to Los Angeles in her teens, she searched for herself in the LA punk scene, playing house shows with FIDLAR, and shoplifting DVDs from big box stores to trade at Amoeba Records for 80s punk albums. But here too she found herself on the outside, working to bridge her foundation in country blues and American roots guitar traditions with the punk scene she called home. She first made her name with this work, bringing a wickedly virtuosic touch on the fingerstyle guitar that sprang from her own self-discoveries on the instrument. But her restless spirit, a byproduct of growing up semi-nomadic with a single mother, led her to Southern California, where she’s been grinding the pavement for some years now, making a name for her prodigious guitar work and incisive songwriting, which touches on everything from police violence to alcoholism to love found and lost.
TWISTED PINE
Twisted Pine has been praised by NPR for their "upbeat, poppy vibe; energetic, driving rhythms; and virtuosic solos.” Their skyrocketing pandemic release Right Now [Signature Sounds Recordings] ranges limitless from bluegrass to funk, jazz, pop, and soul. Twisted Pine is Kathleen Parks on five-string fiddle and lead vocals, Dan Bui on mandolin, Chris Sartori on upright bass, and Anh Phung on flute.
"Twisted Pine doesn’t just break the rules, they rewrite them,” writes Glide. Check out Twisted Pine here in their April 2022 Paste session: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hJBc2h70gA "They were once bluegrass," writes The Boston Globe, "but ... this Boston band has become something else, a wider version of string band, boundary jumpers akin to outfits like Punch Brothers, Nickel Creek, and Crooked Still.”
SEAN ROWE
A curious mind and a sense of adventure make for quite a collection of stories. Some play out over the course of a few minutes while others, more profound and complex, take years to untangle. Sean Rowe, an artist and nomad at heart, has made himself into the perfect repository for volumes of every variety — hysterical, terrifying, heartbreaking, mystifying, and ridiculous — and on his new record, he makes it clear that at some point it’s hard not to feel them all at once.
The Darkness Dressed in Colored Lights is ripe with both dimensions. It was produced by Rowe’s friend and longtime collaborator Troy Pohl, whom he has known since he was in his early twenties while Pohl was still a teen. The two grew into their professionalism together and here, they make the most of their combined ambition and experience. The studio Hive in Eau Claire, Wisconsin was chosen so that they could work with the Grammy-winning engineer, Brian Joseph (Bon Iver) and for its proximity to a group of musicians that Sean came to admire while listening to Anna Tivel’s remarkable album, The Question, in his manager’s basement studio. That group includes drummer/percussionist, and producer Shane Leonard, along with Jeremy Boetcher on bass, and Ben Lester on keys and pedal steel. Courtney Hartman was flown from Colorado to provide background vocals and guitar. Chris Carey provided additional bass, while John DeHaven, Jeff Nania, and Joel Yannuzzi made up the album’s brass section.
ALI McGUIRK
Blending classic soul power with a folk songwriter lyricism, Ali McGuirk has the rare ability to silence a room with just a few words of a song. With a voice that is raw and sultry and a style rooted in improvisation, her sets are a hypnotic and intimate journey. Her earliest years as a performer were spent earning residencies across four continents, from Santorini to Hong Kong.
McGuirk’s debut album, Slow Burn, made rock critic Steve Morse’s “Top Ten albums of 2017” in the Boston Globe and earned her recognition as one of New England’s most compelling artists. Her latest single “That’s the Way I Feel About You” by Bobby Womack is out now and benefits the Sweet Relief Musicians’ Fund.
McGuirk relocated to Burlington, VT during the early stages of the global pandemic. She penned her newest album while living there. It’s currently scheduled for a summer 2022 release on Signature Sounds Recordings.
CLOUDBELLY
Cloudbelly is the moniker of Great (Turners) Falls, MA based singer-songwriter Corey Laitman. Among the newest members of the Signature Sounds family, Laitman's poetic lyricism, stirring vocals and disarming stage presence have earned them a strong and growing following in the Pioneer Valley and beyond. They are accompanied by a rotating cast of inspired instrumentalists and friends.
KIMAYA DIGGS
KIMAYA DIGGS is a musician and writer, born and based in the rolling hills of Western Massachusetts. The sounds of her childhood included Emily Dickinson, Ella Fitzgerald, Whitney Houston, 70’s soul, and songs around the table with her family.
A fourth-generation artist, Kimaya grew up singing with her sisters, and found her voice across the facets of neo-soul, jazz, and R&B. She’s crafted a genre-defying style that celebrates the power and dexterity of her voice. Slippery and acrobatic at times, earthy and urgency-filled at others, her voice has been called “smoothly captivating” by the Daily Hampshire Gazette. Her songwriting beautifully captures the spectrum of her vocal range, and the singular control she has over her instrument.
More recently, to commemorate Black History Month in 2022, she released a cover of Solange’s “Cranes in the Sky,” a song that documents a journey towards self-love. Her single They Can Say What They Like, released in 2021 on A-Side B-Side Records, written to benefit Cancer Connection, Inc., raising over $2000 for the organization. It placed #6 in 93.9 The River’s Best New Songs of 2021. Her sophomore album is expected in late 2022.
LOUIE PHIPPS
Louie Phipps is a ten-year-old singer-songwriter who plays ukulele and guitar. His playing and performing began in preschool and his songwriting in kindergarten.
Last year the fourth-grader released his album of original music, Louie Phipps & Friends: We Are Together, with 18 grown-up professionals — including Chris Thile, Chris “Critter” Eldridge, Anand Nayak, The Suitcase Junket, Corey Laitman of Cloudbelly, and J.J. O'Connell. Louie’s music has been featured by The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, Morning Edition and Live From Here. He is the 2022 winner of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest’s Singer Songwriter Week.
Louie attends elementary school in Northampton, loves to read, build with legos, play soccer, hike in the woods, and (of course) play music. He is performing original music at the Arcadia Folk Festival with accompaniment by Anand Nayak and J.J. O'Connell. His music can be heard on all streaming platforms and seen on Instagram @louiswalkerphipps.
CARRIE FERGUSON
& THE GRUMPYTIME CLUB
Carrie Ferguson grew up playing an enormous, upright, chocolate-brown piano inherited from the family of one of her father’s third grade students. This piano, built from the parts of several old pianos by students in a local instrument-building workshop, had a darkly booming, slightly furry quality to it, not unlike the weather outside in her hometown of Arcata on the North Coast of California. In order to write good music, the piano had to be played the way the instrument itself demanded, which to Ferguson’s ear meant sticking to the lower two-thirds of the keyboard and using plenty of rolling arpeggios and minor chords. Ferguson credits the stubborn and sonorous voice of her childhood piano, combined with the perpetual fog and exhilarating clamminess of coastal Northern California, as instilling in her the baseline aesthetic of melancholic optimism that still permeates her words and music.