Sand & Strings

Whether traveling to gigs on horseback or by tour bus, Americana mavens The Brothers Comatose forge their own path with raucous West Coast renderings of traditional bluegrass, country and rock ‘n’ roll music. The five-piece string band is anything but a traditional acoustic outfit with their fierce musicianship and rowdy, rock concert-like shows.

The Brothers Comatose is comprised of brothers Ben Morrison (guitar, vocals) and Alex Morrison (banjo, vocals), Steve Height (bass, vocals), Philip Brezina (violin), and Greg Fleischut (mandolin). When they’re not headlining The Fillmore for a sold-out show or appearing at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, the band is out on the road performing across America, Canada, Australia, and hosting their very own music festival, Comatopia, in the Sierra foothills.

For the making of his fourth album If I Were a Butterfly, Rayland Baxter holed up for over a year at a former rubber-band factory turned studio in the Kentucky countryside—a seemingly humble environment that proved to be something of a wonderland. “I spent that year living in a barn with the squirrels and the birds, on my own most of the time, and I discovered so much about music and how to create it,” says the Tennessee-bred singer/songwriter. “Instead of going into a studio with a producer for two weeks, I just waited for the record to build itself. I’d get up and go outside, see a butterfly and connect that with some impulsive thought I’d had three months ago, and suddenly a song I’d been working on would make sense. That’s how the whole album came to be.”

The follow-up to 2018’s critically acclaimed Wide Awake, If I Were a Butterfly finds Baxter co-producing alongside Tim O’Sullivan (Grace Potter, The Head and the Heart) and Kai Welch (Molly Tuttle, Sierra Hull), slowly piecing together the album’s patchwork of lush psychedelia and Beatlesesque pop. In addition to working at Thunder Sound (the Kentucky studio he called home for months on end), Baxter recorded in California, Texas, Tennessee, and Washington, enlisting a remarkable lineup of musicians: Shakey Graves, Lennon Stella, several members of Cage the Elephant, Zac Cockrell of Alabama Shakes, Morning Teleportation’s Travis Goodwin, and legendary Motown drummer Miss Bobbye Hall, among many others. In an especially meaningful turn, two of the album’s tracks feature the elegant pedal steel work of his father, Bucky Baxter (a musician who performed with Bob Dylan and who passed away in May 2020). Thanks to the extraordinary care and ingenuity behind its creation, If I Were a Butterfly arrives as a work of rarefied magic, capable of stirring up immense feeling while leaving the listener happily wonderstruck.

Founded nearly 30 years ago, The Mother Hips caught their first big break before they’d even finished college, when legendary producer Rick Rubin signed the band to his American Recordings label. In the decades to come, the group would go on to release ten critically acclaimed studio albums and cement themselves as architects of a new breed of California rock and soul, one equally informed by the breezy harmonies of the Beach Boys, the funky roots of The Band, and the psychedelic Americana of Buffalo Springfield. Praised by Rolling Stone as “divinely inspired” and hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as “one of the Bay Area’s most beloved live outfits,” the group’s headline and festival performances have become the stuff of legend, earning them slots everywhere from High Sierra to Outside Lands alongside dates with the likes of Johnny Cash, Lucinda Williams, Wilco, and The Black Crowes.

Written and recorded through the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic, the band’s new album, Glowing Lantern, is a work of great comfort and companionship, even as it grapples with the deep anxiety of these profoundly uncertain times. The songs are weighty, abstract ruminations wrapped in unflagging optimism, bittersweet streams of consciousness delivered with a palpable sense of camaraderie and brotherhood. Glowing Lantern is as collaborative a record as the band has ever made, and it’s impossible not to feel the joy and gratitude radiating out of it like a beacon in the night.

A all-star group comprised of veterans of Mexico’s alt rock scene Sofi Mayen, Cha! (Fobia), Iñaki (Fobia) and Elohim Corona (Moderatto), Gran Sur is a project formed in Mexico City at the end of 2016. The band approaches traditional Latin American music and its great shared culture from a remarkably independent angle, with the aim of showing the musical tradition of the region through its instruments, sounds, lyrics and music. Jaranas, violins, trumpets, charango, quena, fused with synthesizers, programming and guitars…in other words: eclectic.

Their music and songs rich in nostalgia are inspired by traditional Mexican music such as mariachi, boleros and norteñas, spiced up with synthesizers, programming and electric guitars. Their visual universe is also a very important part of the band’s concept and is reflected in their costumes, videos, album and single artwork.

The Franklin Electric has been steadily gaining critical acclaim and a loyal following for their introspective lyrics and uplifting instrumentation, with their latest releases accumulating over 3 million global streams. The first single released this year, the acoustic plea “Call Me,” began as an improv jam recorded on Matte’s phone, marking a turning point for him, as he feels that he’s now reached a point where he can make the music that he hears in his mind freely.

Second single “Make No Mistakes” finds TFE at the peak of their craft, an irresistible indie-folk anthem featuring a contagious chorus that will stick in listeners’ heads all day. Both videos were filmed in Portugal, capturing stunning scenery. Third single “Warning Signs” is about paying attention to life and listening to the signs, whether it be a feeling, a circumstance or situation that keeps reoccurring. Its music video was the first that Matte filmed and directed himself, in Mexico where he met Montana Dare, a local street circus performer. Fourth single “Monsters” makes friends with the monster within, embracing imperfection in a world that expects perfection.

A bustling boulevard in the heart of Milwaukee provides a colorful backdrop for the latest album by folk duo Dead Horses. Brady Street, which is due out on August 12, 2022, is Dead Horses’ first full-length release since their arresting 2018 record, My Mother the Moon. The last album charted on the Americana Top 50 radio charts for three consecutive months. The single “Turntable” accrued more than 35 million spins on Spotify and was also featured on the Amazon and Apple Americana playlists. The pair’s select media highlights include a Rolling Stone “Artist You Should Know” mention as well as profiles in Billboard, Noisey, and even independent global news publication Democracy Now!

For their fourth full-length press, the pair decided to stick to their roots and record at Honeytone Studios in Neenah. “We wanted to produce something that seemed true to us, so we opted for a closer-to-home approach,” explains Daniel Wolff. “The experience allowed us to dive in and out of the studio and really work with the individual songs and the overall feel of Brady Street. Because of this, I believe we created a set of songs that contain a wider variety of sounds and textures that we knew were possible for us but didn’t have the chance to accomplish yet based on our previous recording strategies.”

With their close harmonies, catchy melodies and potent lyricism, the T Sisters’ embody a fresh and soulful take on Americana and indie folk. Big Girl Pants’ is the forthcoming album from folk sister group the T Sisters. Its cheeky title belies the mature and sometimes introspective themes of the record which include dealing with loss and grappling with society’s sins, as well as developing personally in new phases of life.

The sisters sojourned to LA to record the album in February of 2020, in the nick of time before the pandemic hit. Chloe, the youngest by three minutes, recalls the process with a satisfied sense of nostalgia. “It was the most fun we’ve had recording. The three of us crashed with a friend in the Hollywood hills. We’d have breakfast at the Beachwood Cafe in the morning and then rock Miley Cyrus’s ‘Nothing Breaks Like a Heart’ on our way to the recording studio.”

Whiskerman is a rock-and-roll overture to our great unraveling. Over the last decade the Oakland-based band has developed an underground reputation for tackling the sublime with their ambitious songwriting, thunderous stage show, and acute lyricism. They have since emerged as an engine of the Bay Area’s revitalized psychedelic and festival scenes. Frontman Graham Patzner, who will crow like a medicine show preacher and then coo you into the arms of his lovesick eternity, might be a spitfire protege of the underworld himself, though again and again he will remind you that there is no rapture without artistry.

On the surface this is splendid rock-and-roll, rooted in the classic, psych and glam rock tradition, but the pageantry and chaos of Whiskerman’s performances will leave you describing an experience more than a sound. Whiskerman’s fourth studio album, Kingdom Illusion, is a rock and roll vision quest that ushers the band’s elegiac psychedelia towards a louder, pushier, more colorful sound. They are back in the studio and on the road in 2023.

The Sweet Lillies’ music is, first and foremost, heartfelt and collaborative. Those defining traits are given life by the trio of musicians who make up the Lillies, Julie Gussaroff, Becca Bisque, and Dustin Rohleder, who have combined their individual strengths together to deliver powerful narratives of life in song. With their acoustic string-band lineup of guitar, viola, and upright bass given flight by ethereal, vocal harmonies that float like a dream,

the Sweet Lillies’ music has an old-time soul with a forward-looking eye. The Sweet Lillies have incorporated all of their cumulative life-experiences into their music, their song-writing, and their artistry, crafting an uncommonly-beautiful style they have christened String-Americana – a nod to the band’s all encompassing musical tastes and willingness to experiment with genres. As Gussaroff explains, “Some musicians learn from teachers, some learn from family members, and some are self taught. Some musicians are classically trained, some come up through folk, some draw from multiple springs, from hip hop through pop to bebop. In the Lillies’ all of these skill sets are valuable, relevant, and appreciated.”

What makes the homey Ozark stew of Handmade Moments so very nourishing, so perfectly spiced? Partake and be effortlessly guided through wistful and deep channels of musical flavor, rich with hearty roots and fungi, vegetables home-gardened and watered from the sacred well of American musics: jazz old-time country blues soul hip-hop rock (and it don’t stop). Glistening with insight and whimsy, long-simmering with righteous compassion and beauty, Handmade Moments are a fearless all-weather duo – complementary spirits of musical tightrope and magic – serving up entrée to their secret river of goodness.

Benjamin Dakota Rogers wields one of those distinct, immediate, and truly wild voices. With a studied nod to old-time and bluegrass rhythms, his unvarnished sound effectively smashes the barrier between past and present.Hailing from his family’s farm in Southwestern Ontario, Rogers grew up building greenhouses, growing vegetables, and living off the land.

“Growing up my family drove a big VW bus. We listened to a lot of fiddle music, going from festival to festival,” he says. “These days I live in one of the barns, tap trees, and make music.” It’s impossible to separate Rogers’ knack for brisk syncopation from the terrain he knows so well. In fact, the intense tension of Rogers’ voice – complete with a sweeping rasp and a flying drawl – seems to come directly from the farm’s wellspring. “There’s a massive pack of coywolves and coyotes in the woods near us,” he says. “You can hear them every night, howling and fighting.”

Delivering songs from a deep well of passion for storytelling, Rogers’ lyric sensibility is rare among young artists. His most recent single, John Came Home, is a haunting take on the murder ballad. “I’d had the riff for about six months,” he says. “I tend to write short stories and convert them into songs.” John Came Home is full of upbeat boldness and ghostly ire that culminates in a direct hit to the chest.

Willy Tea Taylor is a father, brother, and son. His remarkable ability to sing about profound subjects in a simple way makes his songs a great place to lose yourself. Much of that comes from his upbringing. Willy grew up surrounded by rolling hills and horses in the small town of Oakdale, California. Known as the “Cowboy Capital of the World” for breeding so many world-champion rodeo cowboys, Oakdale is still Willy’s home and the setting for many of his songs.

Despite coming from a long line of cattlemen – his grandfather Walt was one of the most respected of his generation – Willy’s first love was baseball. As a catcher, he had a gift for the nuances of calling a game from behind the plate. When a knee injury ended his ability to catch, Willy turned his attention to music. At the age of 18, a discerning and intimate set by Greg Brown at the Strawberry Music Festival inspired Willy to pursue life as a folk singer. Strawberry would play an integral role in Willy’s development as a musician, going from spectator to stagehand, to performer.

has created an idiosyncratic musical language very much his own, that seemingly transcends genre, language and even time. His recent single “Háblame de Ti” feels like an instant classic, one of those rare songs that gets stuck in your head and puts a smile on your face upon each listening.

THE Multi-instrumental singer-songwriter creates instantly memorable melodies that are intended to “revive feelings lost in a time of routine and declining sensitivity.” He is currently promoting his debut album “Volver A”, a work inspired by genres such as 60’s soul, folk and rock with a clear message about the loss of essence and identity.

During the spring and summer of 2020, The Lowest Pair (Kendl Winter and Palmer T. Lee) found themselves camping and sharing songs around the fire with two dear friends and incredible musicians Adam Roszkiewicz and Leif Karlstrom of the instrumental duo Small Town Therapy. Founding members of the progressive string band Front Country, multi-instrumentalists Adam and Leif bring a new dynamic palette of colors to Kendl and Palmer’s own instrumental prowess and expressive lyricism.

After sharing a handful of new songs and tunes, (and making immediate fans in the campground) there was no doubt that a record was in the future, and In August of 2020 they spent a week out in Enterprise, Oregon recording at the OK Theater.
The new record “Horse Camp” leans towards each member’s string band roots and showcases brand new Lowest Pair songs Kendl and Palmer wrote during the strange times of the pandemic. The album also includes an instrumental by each musician involved. It’s an awesome display of how a simple collaboration of friends can result in music that is as organic as it is undeniable.

Charlie Higgins is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter who, together with his band sunset station, has developed a dedicated following in Mexico’s Bahia de Banderas with a rich blend of Roots rock, blue-eyed soul and west coast americana.
On “Gringo”, the band’s first EP, Higgins presents six original songs that combine engaging, no-frills arrangements, brought to life by lyrics that are equal parts heartfelt sentiment and dark humor exploring his experiences with modern love, loss and addiction.

The band is currently working on its self-produced first full length LP “Just Stay a Little Longer” scheduled for release in november 2023. The album is an eclectic batch of deeply personal songs, many of which higgins wrote during the height of the Pandemic, expressing his unexpected realizations about both the importance of love and companionship in hard times and his reckoning with the often self-serving quality of such love. ranging from stripped-down folk to multi-layered pscyhedelic soul, the album is a testament to the power of music of all shapes and sizes to lead us through spiritual and emotional transition when the moment calls for it.

Minneapolis-born & raised, singer/songwriter Hannah von der Hoff is Holy Hannah!: original soul rock & roll vocalist, guitarist, composer and performing artist, inspired by the greatest jazz soul blues rock funk & folk artists of all time. Her songs are a breath of fresh air in an AI auto-tuned zombie world of modern music, reminding us that even new original music can still move us to the depths of our souls, real and raw like the salt of the earth

Argentine songwriter Lola Cobach brings together influences from soul, folk-rock and pop-rock, from singers and songwriters such as Joni Mitchell, Rosalia, Neil Young, Mercedes Sosa, Cat Power, Juana Molina, among many others. Since beginning her solo career, Lola has performed in major venues in Buenos Aires, such as Complejo C, Usina del Arte, CCK, CC Konex, and Niceto, and she has also toured the United States, Uruguay and other parts of Argentina. In recent months, she opened for Devendra Banhart at C Complejo Art Media at the Music Wins Festival, Dyango at Luna Park, Todo Aparenta Normal at Niceto and Florian and Melanie Williams at Camping, among many others.

Her latest studio album “Camino Dorado” features artists such as Ainda, Nico Bereciartúa, An Espil, Chipi Rud (Ivanna Rud), and Marino Otero, among others. She has also released the album “Plumaje” (edited in Japan by Disk Union with hundreds of copies sold), the singles “Close to You”, “Último día” and “Superluna”, and the EP “Time Has Come”.

Anna Katarina is an indie Canadian-American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist (vocals, keys, guitars) and performer known for her honest voice, bold lyrics, and diverse compositions, often described as a modern mélange of Joni Mitchell, Alanis Morissette and Sheryl Crow, sitting somewhere between Indie-Pop and Americana-Soul. She was named one of Canada’s 8 Hottest Emerging Artists in Exclaim!’s October 2022.

Her debut solo album, Daisychain (October 2022) showcases Anna’s unapologetic lyricism, distinctive production, and a sonic scape reminiscent of Clairo, Kacey Musgraves and Kathleen Edwards’ Voyager. She is currently working on a live album video series supported by the Canada Council for the Arts.

2023 highlights include a 3-week spring European tour; Official Showcases at Toronto’s NXNE Festival and Arts Touring Alliance of Alberta (October), and a duet performance with Canadian platinum popstar Shawn Hook at his sold-out theatre show in Trail, BC. In early 2024 she is showcasing in Ireland at Your Roots Are Showing and recording an EP with producer Murray Pulver (The Bros. Landreth, Noah Derksen, Crash Test Dummies.)

Adam Spry is a San Francisco-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist that invokes a unique blend of Indie Rock, Americana and Power Pop. His musical style has been likened to Father John Misty, Wilco and The Kinks. To date, Spry has released two EP’s and most recently, his debut album, “Slightly Off Kilter” (2023). With this album, Spry has created “…a perfect mix of storytelling and indie-rock vibe that takes us from Beatles to Franz Ferdinand without ever truly sounding like any of them.” – Where The Music Meets.

Whether performing with his lively backing band, The Rig, or an intimate solo set, Adam Spry has captured audiences while touring throughout California, the Pacific Northwest and beyond. In Spring 2024 he will tour the United Kingdom.

Lead by blues warrior and legend Genario Palacios, Bad Boy Blues from the historic city of Guadalajara brings an authentic and spirited take on early American music to sand & Strings Music Festival. Joined by his son, Genaro Palacios Alarcón on washboard and lead vocals, Palacios’ band has a unique, no-frills way of transporting the listener to a different time and place, when audiences in cities like Chicago and New Orleans would listen attentively to the blues late into the night before technological and other distractions made this experience more and more rare. The joy of hearing these guys interpret many blues classics and deep cuts, with a sneaky sophistication and effortless charm, is testament to their unfailing commitment to the music to which Palacios, at 73 years old despite suffering from emphysema, has dedicated his entire life.

SASKATCHEWAN’s OWN Bobbi Goddard leads this wild bunch with her powerful vocals and no-holds-barred stage presence, performing pop-country and honky tonk classics by the likes of dolly, patsy, shania and more. bobbi has built a passionate local following by gigging regularly in puerto vallarta and throughout bahia de banderas with Her band, The others, comprised of veterans in the local music scene. A theater kid at heart, She also presents an irreverEnt and lauded “queens of country” tribute show three years running at Vallarta’s renowned Act2PV Theater downtown.

Eliza Barry is an emerging vocalist/pianist and songwriter born and raised in Vancouver BC, Canada. Specialized and trained in the world of Jazz/Contemporary music, Eliza is known for her warm and expressive vocals and the energy she brings on stage. From a young age Eliza has shown a great natural ability for vocal improvisation and soloing. At the age of 7 Eliza wrote her first song, and has been passionately songwriting ever since. Her music and voice guides the listener through a journey of melancholic sounds, thought provoking lyricism, intricate melodies and chromatic harmony with a dreamy and soulful approach. In April 2021, Eliza received her Degree in Music from VCC, majoring in Jazz and Contemporary Voice with a minor in Classical Voice. Today at the age of 25, Eliza performs weekly shows as a solo pianist and singer, performing tributes as well as original music. In January 2023 Eliza released her first single, Warm me up, ahead of her second single “Familiar” and an EP scheduled to be released later this year.

Fede Petro is a singer-songwriter, producer and session musician based in Los Angeles, California. His music, a folk-inspired journey into the roots of American and Argentine folklore, brings both the instrumentation and spirit of the two cultures and the inevitable collision between the two. Over a period of 15 years he has performed at multiple renowned festivals and venues across Latin America and recently relocated to Los Angeles.

PETRO has worked with artists ranging from Gustavo Satanoalalla, Gal Musette, Rocko Wheeler, Gaby Moreno, Emily Kate Boyd to Estela Stier, Mel Muñiz, Los Tabaleros, Mauro Meloni, Lucila Ruiu and Agustin Donati playing, singing, arranging and producing. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina influenced by The Beatles, Los Chalchaleros, The Byrds, Ry Cooder, The Band & more, he became adept aT instruments like Ronroco, Guitar, Violin and more.

Born as a protest against culture war panic in their home state of Tennessee, BERTHA: Grateful Drag is the Grateful Dead tribute act no one saw coming. BERTHA is an all-star collective of queer and allied East Nashville talent, bringing a fresh perspective to the music they grew up on, in wigs, sequins and full face. After their first benefit concert raised thousands for local LGBTQ+ causes and garnered national press from Rolling Stone to Yahoo to the San Francisco Chronicle, the costumed concept band decided they should keep on truckin’ and see how much “furthur” they could take this long strange trip. Fronted by a harmony trio of Berthas and backed by a rocking all-Bertha band, their lore is almost as legendary as their live show, with their story unfolding on social media with every new video and photo. 2024 hopes to find BERTHA bringing their Grateful Drag road show to select engagements around the US and the world