Chris Richards
Hailing from Sheboygan, Wisconsin, Chris Richards now resides in Nashville. His new album, Tumblers & Grit, is an outstanding collection illustrating Chris' talent for writing country-rock. Richards' songs are sophisticated and smart, they touch on lost love, the open road and country music itself, but with a subdued and subtle humor that is unusual for country albums. His lyrical style and wit have been compared to John Prine and Lucinda Williams.

Dave Alvin sideman Rich Shea discovered Richards in Los Angeles after hearing some of his demos. Liking what he heard, Shea worked with Richards on an album, Jam the Breeze, which caught the attention of Mojo, No Depression and BBC radio. Richards then moved from L.A. to Nashville and started his own label, Lake Effect Records. Tumblers & Grit is the label's debut release and features guitarist Kenny Vaughn, Ketch Secor on fiddle, Jared Reynolds on bass, L.A. vocalist Dawn McCoy and , Lloyd Green, one of the most recorded steel guitarists in history. Richards will be on tour beginning in July through early August. Check out his website at www.chrisrichards.com for more details.

Duane Jarvis
Best known to the casual fan for his guitar work and co-writes with Lucinda Williams, Duane is celebrated as a visionary hero in Nashville. On his brilliant new roots-rock outing, he's joined by Chuck Prophet and Buddy Miller. Jarvis enlisted the help of friends Dave Coleman, Paul Griffith, George Marinelli, Danny Kurtz, Chuck Prophet, Tammy Rogers, and Buddy Miller in his recent creation.

Following 2001's critically-acclaimed album Certified Miracle, Jarvis stripped down the horn-drenched Miracle sound to create a record, Delicious (Slewfoot Records) that is more personal, more introspective, and, at the same time more joyful. From the Lamar Sorrento painting on the cover to the all-out rocking on songs such as "Happy Town," you can tell that life for Jarvis is, in fact, Delicious.
www.duanejarvis.net

WIYOS
The WIYOS are taking a new generation of listeners back to a time before genre distinctions separated blues and country, ragtime and gospel, swing and hillbilly music due to their vintage American music traditions and style. The WIYOS are equally at home in the Blue Ridge Mountains and the clubs of New York; likewise their original compositions draw from the urbane sounds of Django Reinhardt, the Gershwin Brothers and Fats Waller, as well as the country styles of Gary Davis, Skip James and Doc Watson.

The WIYOS consists of Michael Farkas (lead vocals, harmonica, washboard, banjo, kazoo), a self taught musician from New York. His musical expertise has brought him to San Francisco, France and Spain. Parish Ellis (guitar, vocals) comes from Virginia where his interest in country blues first blossomed. He also plays the banjo, bass, national steel slide guitar, Cuban tres, and mandolin and has recorded two CDs: Moonrise on the Mountain and The Small Room Sessions. Last but not least is Joseph "JoeBass" DeJarnette (upright bass, sound engineer, vocals) also a native of Virginia. He has played professionally in Virginia and Washington state with a variety of Americana acts, and has opened or shared bills with Ricky Skaggs, Del McCoury, Gwar, and John Jackson.

The WIYOS have wrapped up their debut album, Porcupine. Promoter Gary Erwin of the Budweiser Lowcountry Blues Bash has described the WIYOS music as "great vintage blues and spellbinding original compositions." The band has been invited to perform at the 2004 Newport Folk Festival.
http://truthfacerecordings.com/wiyos/

Matt Munisteri Presents Brock Mumford
A bluegrass banjo player since the age of nine, Matt Munisteri grew up devoted to a wide range of out-of-date, out-of-place music. The music of The Beatles, Hoagy Carmichael, Randy Newman, Cole Porter and The Band were as present in his house as his own cherished Bill Monroe and Ralph Stanley records. This might be the reason for his unique synthesis of tradition and reach, which is evident in his remarkable, homespun guitar technique, his "high lonesome" jazz singing, and the easygoing whirlygig of language present in his lyrics. His on-stage narratives and stories are laced with a relaxed, winking irreverence and sly humor.

After a chance late night meeting on a subway platform, Matt began playing French musette and gypsy swing music with Will Holshouser some 6 years ago, and their unique duo sound served as a jumping off point for the band. Matt and Will performed their mix of originals, hot instrumentals and American standards regularly at Pete's Candy Store, and were soon able to recruit their friend, and musical uber-talent, Jon Kellso to the fold. The band's sound serves to make novice listeners ask, "What kind of music is this"? And the honest answer is: It's Jazz. But no one wants to hear an honest answer, and given some of what's been enacted in jazz's good name, that's probably all for the best.

The remarkable Danton Boller regularly holds does the bass chair, and BROCK is frequently, joyfully, augmented by the talents of Jenny Scheinman on violin, and Quincy Davis on drums.
www.brockmumford.com

Ian "Mac" McLagan
Ian "Mac" McLagan is best-known as the keyboard player for the legendary British bands, Small Faces and Faces and for his signature Wurlitzer electric piano. He has also toured and recorded with Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, Bonnie Raitt and many others. Mac has released four critically acclaimed solo albums in which he proves himself as a worthy singer/songwriter. In 1996, Mac received the prestigious Ivor Novello award for his outstanding contribution to British music. He is also the author of a critically-acclaimed autobiography, All the Rage, which offers a truly inside look at life in the world of rock.

Most recently, Ian McLagan released Rise & Shine! featuring Mac's Bump Band: Gurf Morlix, "Scrappy" Jud Newcomb, Don Harvey and George Reiff, with Patti Griffin on backing vocals. "Rise & Shine! is filled with vibrant rock ‘n' roll written and performed by one of the best loved rock'n'rollers of our time."
www.gaffmusic.com/mclagan.html

The Brilliant Mistakes
With songs filled with heart, soul, craft and intelligence, NYC's The Brilliant Mistakes have built a devoted grassroots following by way of club gigs, word-of-mouth, rave reviews, Internet chat groups and festival appearances. Dumb Luck, the band's second full-length release, is a bittersweet love letter to those fans of classic, melodic pop songwriting, and features 12 well-crafted gems.

While inspired by the smart pop of such overseas songwriters as Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe and Neil Finn, The Brilliant Mistakes remain true to their American rock influences, drawing upon pop, folk and soul sounds of the 60's and 70's to create their own unique musical identity.

Performing Songwriter magazine hailed the band's music as "pure, rich, punchy pop in the tradition of Ray Davies, Squeeze and The Raspberries, Dumb Luck is a rousing set of great songs played with flair and fun. Everything's here -- the melodies, the harmonies, the musicianship and the arrangements. As good as anything the majors and indies have put out anytime recently, these guys play pop the way it was done before "pop" was a dirty word."

In 2003, New York City's WFUV, one of the top AAA stations in the country, was the first to catch on to the band and kept them in heavy rotation when Dumb Luck was launched regionally in mid-2003. The Brilliant Mistakes' music has since been featured on WXPN-PA's nationally-syndicated "World Cafe" as well as on XM Satellite Radio.
www.thebrilliantmistakes.com

Amy Rigby
Amy Rigby has been compared to everyone from Elvis Costello to Carole King, but she "has no peer on the current pop scene," according to the Chicago Reader. Born in Pittsburgh and a long-time resident of New York City, Amy was songwriter, singer and rhythm guitarist for cow punk pioneers Last Roundup and folk pop trio The Shams before her first solo album got the attention of critics and music fans. Four widely critically acclaimed albums later and now making her home in Nashville, Rigby continues to write and sing from the trenches of rock, romance and reality. Praised for her dazzling song craft and brilliant humor and bite, Amy Rigby "gives you everything you could want from rock music: anger, humor, lust, and wistfulness." says the Knoxville Metro Pulse. Amy Rigby's TIL THE WHEELS FALL OFF (Signature Sounds) has all the makings of a breakthrough. The album is a masterpiece of adult pop, conjuring up classic 60's pop anthems while remaining completely contemporary and offering the sharpest lyrics this side of Elvis Costello. Rigby's autobiographical tunes, by turns funny and poignant, are the stuff of which careers like Lucinda Williams are made, and Rigby is long overdue for some Williams-like recognition. "Ms Rigby's songs capture reality instead of inflating it... they blithely cross lines few artists have even approached." -NEW YORK TIMES
www.amyrigby.com

Joy Lynn White
Joy Lynn White is the "greatest unknown goddess of country music," according to the Gavin radio trade magazine. She is a roots music singer and songwriter with heart, smarts, and hard-won wisdom and integrity. White has sung on records with Lucinda Williams, Dwight Yoakam, Randy Travis, The Mavericks, Iris DeMent, Buddy Miller, Kim Richey and Robbie Fulks, among others. And she's released three critically acclaimed albums of her own.

Born in Arkansas and raised in Indiana, White started singing in public at the age of five. With a voice that displays what USA Today calls "an emotional range beyond anything in mainstream country," she went to Nashville after high school and quickly became one of Music City's most in-demand demo singers before winning a record deal with Columbia Records.

White is currently in the midst of recording her first full album of original material, co-producing the sessions with Kyle Lehning (known for his work with Travis, George Jones, Tammy Wynette and Kenny Rogers among others). She is a "bewitching siren who deserves a wider audience," insists Country Weekly and has what Stereo Review calls a "wild-and-wounded delivery and an attitude that says she is not to be ignored."
www.JoyLynnWhite.com

Sid Selvidge
Sid Selvidge was born in Greenville, Mississippi, and got his first guitar at age 13. As a teenager he disc jockeyed at radio station WDDT in Greenville, and later at KWAM in Memphis. While in Memphis he performed at the famous Bitter Lemon Club, where he studied the styles of legendary bluesmen Furry Lewis and Mississippi Fred McDowell.

Selvidge is "neither country nor rock," said John Rockwell of the New York Times. "He's pretty much everything musically in the whole Southeast." He has recorded three solo albums, most recently "A Little Bit of Rain" which was released in the spring of 2003. In addition, Selvidge has performed with the band, Mudboy and the Neutrons, featuring Jim Dickinson. Bob Dylan once called them "the great band that nobody can find."

Selvidge has been a guest artist at Carnegie Hall and has performed on the National Public Radio program, Mountain Stage. He has even written a children's blues opera, commissioned by Opera Memphis. He also helped found and is executive producer of Beale Street Caravan, an internationally syndicated blues radio program, heard on over 500 stations in the U.S. and overseas.

Sid Selvidge has had a musical career as expansive as the Mississippi Delta -- and as true to his roots as the bluesmen of yesteryear. "With a voice as smooth as Kentucky corn liquor and a guitar tone as smoky as Tennessee barbecue, Selvidge keeps the Memphis music tradition alive," said Guitar Player magazine.
http://www.archer-records.com/artists/sid_selvidge/

Dave Olney
At 13, when David Olney first picked up the guitar, he found himself drawn to Woody Guthrie, Jimmy Reed and the other musicians in his older brother's record collection. While he was trying to learn folk music, popular artists such as Ray Charles, Elvis, The Stones, The Beatles and Bob Dylan provided the background music of his life. It was during a brief stint at the University of North Carolina that he decided to pursue music as a profession. It was a wise decision.

With six solo albums on Rounder/Philo, five albums on various European labels and Omar's Blues on Dead Reckoning, David has earned a place as one of the most respected singer songwriters in Nashville today. Numerous artists including Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt and Del McCoury have covered his songs.

David has the soul of a rock 'n' roller and he writes like Faulkner might have had he listened to lots of Randy Newman. Be prepared for wonderfully skewed lyrics and some of the most dynamic music around.
www.davidolney.com

Paul Geremia
Since his recording debut in 1968, Paul Geremia has been one of the best white acoustic bluesmen working, for his expressive singing as well as his dexterous playing. A native of Rhode Island, he originally came to blues by way of the 1960s folk boom, but unlike a lot of other players on that scene, he never went electric. His influences from an early age include Woody Guthrie, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Big Bill Broonzy, Barbecue Bob, Skip James, Tampa Red, and King Oliver.

Geremia has built a reputation as a first rate bluesman, songwriter, a "scholar" of early jazz and blues, and one of the best country blues fingerpickers ever with his tools - six and twelve-string guitars, harmonica, piano and a husky soulful voice - and with an innate sense of the humor as well as the drama of the music, he keeps traditional blues fresh and alive with his performances.

Geremia has recorded ten solo albums, and has appeared on numerous anthologies and compilation discs. His superb recordings have made him a critical favorite and place him firmly among the legends who inspired and influenced him over the past three decades.
http://www.fishheads.net/geremia/