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Young folks focuses on the best, fresh folk, acoustic, singer-songwriter indie folk & alt-country jams. Turn it up Folks!

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Vraell

‘Expanse’

[indie folk]

Press Notes:

I’ve grown up in cities and loud places all my life, so I’m very much used to the noise but sometimes it can get overwhelming. I try to write music that gives people that little time of introspection and peace that I always want in these times.

RAYGUN CARVER

‘LAREDO’

[folk/singer-songwriter]

Press Notes:

RAYGUN CARVER is the music of singer/songwriter Michael Soiseth.

Rocky Bottom

‘Some People’

[americana]

Press Notes:

He got his start in the New Jersey punk scene in the early 2000’s. After playing in several punk bands Hernandez decided to change the course to more roots driven music after being influenced by the likes of Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Johnny Cash. Adding acoustic guitar and harmonica into the mix he set off to start something new. With a new band formed, Hernandez and the band played all over NJ/NYC for 2 years. A band break up in 2010 led to a move to Ft. Lauderdale, FL where he made a living playing mostly dive bars. These bars are where he would grow as a performer and eventually hone in on the sound he was searching for.

After playing the circuit for several years and working on his craft, Hernandez knew Ft. Lauderdale wasn’t permanent. This would be the beginning of Rocky Bottom. He moved to Nashville in 2015 and began working more on his songwriting. Since then he’s put out 3 EP’s and 1 full length album American Man which was praised by Pop Matters, writing it “Shines with authenticity”. Currently Rocky Bottom is set to release another full length album “Mr. Nothing” due in 2019. Keep an eye and an ear out for things to come.

Mary Moore

‘Redwoods’

[indie folk/pop]

Press Notes:

Mary Moore is a folk-pop, indie-rock artist living in Nashville, TN. With powerhouse vocals and storytelling lyrics, she has been captivating stages and connecting to people from all walks of life. Mary’s vocals are comparable to the power of Brandi Carlile and Florence + the Machine, but also with the sweet, quirkiness of Regina Spektor. In November 2019, Mary released her single “Hesitant Kiss”, and the song has reached 25K+ streams. Mary has been featured on NPR, WNRN radio, Lightning 100, and BMR Radio.

Mary grew up in Richmond, Virginia where she sang in choirs, acapella groups, musicals, and a classic-rock cover band all over town. Mary went to school at UVA in Charlottesville, VA where she was the music director for the award-winning female acapella group The Virginia Belles. In addition to singing, Mary plays guitar, piano, trumpet, and French horn. After graduating college, Mary relocated to Nashville in 2017 to pursue being an artist.

Azure Wolf

‘Things Have Changed’ 

[folk/singer-songwriter]

Press Notes:

Azure Wolf was born and raised in Vernon, New Jersey and honed her musical sound in Oklahoma City and Winchester, VA.
She grew up torn between two great loves – vocal expression and lyrical charm. Her folk/americana sound is inspired by her many influences including Bob Dylan, Elliott Smith, Elvis Presley, Leonard Cohen, Johnny Cash and many others.
Azure Wolf is constantly searching for greater challenges in her musical career. She is always willing to collaborate and push the boundaries of artistic expression.

Bruce Cockburn

‘Blind Willie’

[folk/instrumental]

Press Notes:

One of Canada’s finest artists, Bruce Cockburn has enjoyed an illustrious career shaped by politics, spirituality, and musical diversity. His remarkable journey has seen him embrace folk, jazz, rock, and worldbeat styles while travelling to such far-flung places as Guatemala, Mali, Mozambique, and Nepal, and writing memorable songs about his ever-expanding world of wonders. “My job,” he explains, “is to try and trap the spirit of things in the scratches of pen on paper and the pulling of notes out of metal.”

That scratching and pulling has earned Cockburn high praise as an exceptional songwriter and a revered guitarist. His songs of romance, protest, and spiritual discovery are among the best to have emerged from Canada over the last 40 years. His guitar playing, both acoustic and electric, has placed him in the company of the world’s top instrumentalists. And he remains deeply respected for his activism on issues from native rights and land mines to the environment and Third World debt, working for organizations such as Oxfam, Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders, and Friends of the Earth.
Throughout his career, Cockburn has deftly captured the joy, pain, fear, and faith of human experience in song. Whether singing about retreating to the country or going up against chaos, tackling imperialist lies or embracing ecclesiastical truths, he has always expressed a tough yet hopeful stance: to kick at the darkness till it bleeds daylight. “We can’t settle for things as they are,” he once warned. “If you don’t tackle the problems, they’re going to get worse.”

For his many achievements, the Ottawa-born artist has been honoured with 12 Juno Awards, an induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, and a Governor General’s Performing Arts Award, and has been made an Officer of the Order of Canada. But he never rests on his laurels. “I’d rather think about what I’m going to do next,” says Cockburn. “My models for graceful aging are guys like John Lee Hooker and Mississippi John Hurt, who never stop working till they drop, as I fully expect to be doing, and just getting better as musicians and as human beings.”

His commitment to growth has made Bruce Cockburn both an exemplary citizen and a legendary artist whose prized songbook will be celebrated for many years to come.

Brad Sample

‘Break My Heart’

[country/rock’n’roll]

Press Notes:

It’s a strange place to find yourself: simultaneously a veteran and a newcomer. As a guitarist, Brad has played to 750k+ people, had countless performances at the Grand Ole Opry, and has been broadcast nationally across television airwaves.

As an artist, he’s beginning to sing his own song. Teaming with Grammy-nominated Nashville producer and engineer Bobby Holland, he made the album he’s always wanted to: an energetic, diverse mix of raw country blues with reverb-laden rock & roll that allows his signature guitar tone to shine.

Ryan Cassata

‘Bamboo Plants’

[folk]

Press Notes:

Ryan Cassata is an award winning singer-songwriter, actor, performer, writer, LGBTQ activist & motivational speaker based in Los Angeles. With features in Rolling Stone, Billboard Magazine, The New York Times, Buzzfeed, and The NY Daily News, Ryan has made the most of his career, which started when he was just 13.

As a musician with over 600 performances touring across the United States and internationally, including being the first openly trans performer at the Vans Warped Tour, along with performing at SXSW and the world’s biggest pride festivals, Ryan has been praised by The Advocate Magazine- calling him a “Transgender singing sensation.” Paper Magazine put him on their “50 LGBTQ Musicians You Should Prioritize” list, and LOGO’s New Now Next included Ryan on the “9 Trans Musicians You Need To Get Into” list. Billboard Magazine put him on the “11 Transgender & Non-Binary Musicians You Need to Know” list and premiered his award winning music video “Daughter” which has been viewed over half a million times. He has also been heard on Sirius XM Radio, BBC Radio 4 and other radio stations around the world. Ryan Cassata currently performs and records with a full band in Los Angeles.

Ryan was the focus of the award winning documentary film “Songs for Alexis” which screened at Frameline SF, Raindance in the UK, Toronto Hot Docs, DOC NYC and more. He co-starred in the indie film “Collective: Unconscious,” which premiered at SXSW, and received praise from Rolling Stone Magazine & The New York Times. Ryan was awarded with “Best Breakout Performance” by the Victoria Independent Film Festival in 2016. Ryan has also been featured in several musical theatre productions including a workshop production at New York Stage & Film’s Powerhouse Theatre at Vassar. Ryan was a recurring guest-star on the Facebook show “Turnt”, and has appeared in several commercials and print ads. Cassata has modeled for brands such as Lids, Bonobos, Lull, and was the official face of TomboyX’s Trans Pride Underwear line in 2019 which he modeled in The Style Section of The New York Times.

Ryan began his work as an activist at age 13 after joining “The Safe Schools Team” and giving dozens of public speeches near his hometown on Long Island, and became the youngest ever keynote speaker at the Philadelphia Trans Heath conference. He continues to give speeches at middle and high schools as well as universities all over the USA to share his story and teach students about the problems of bullying, and to help communities with their journey towards trans inclusivity. He is the first recipient of the Harvey Milk Memorial Award, and has made appearances on several news networks, notably, CNN and TV shows including The Larry King Live Show, and The Tyra Banks Show.

Ryan Cassata has written original journalism pieces (about LGBT issues, current events, and music) that have been published in The Huffington Post, The New York Times, Original Plumbing Magazine, Indie Music Bus, IndieWire, Strange Fire Music Blog, Rock The Pigeon Music Blog, and many more!

Currently, Ryan is in the final stages of editing his memoir and spending time in the studio with his band-recording a new album of original music which follows his most recent full-band production album SHINE.

Committed to educating the global community through music, film, print, tv and in-person speeches, Ryan sheds light on his experience of being transgender and the adversity he has faced as a man. Ryan continues to share his inspiring message of hope & acceptance via his social media platforms and at venues across the nation.

Traveller

‘Old Stories’

[country/bluegrass]

Press Notes:

Traveller was formed in January 2016 and they released their debut EP called “All this time” featuring Martin Yves on guitar in August of that year having spent only five days in the studio to capture their unique tightly driven and melodic sound. Their EP received positive reviews from several music publication’s including Flavour Mag and Essentially Pop who said; Title track ‘All This Time’, is a polished and beautiful track which further emphasises the band’s considerable abilities. It’s familiar but in a warm, comfortable way, and the perfect opener to the rest of the EP. It was aired on the radio to a worldwide audience in over 68 countries with America and Germany generating the greatest number of streams, helping to build on the bands increasing reputation. The band also had top ten hits on college and internet radio and “Till the storm” is the most streamed track on their SoundCloud page with over 134 k streams.
The band have recently finished producing and recording a series of fourteen new tracks with multi-instrumentalist and producer Angus Lyon (Yusuf Islam, Paul McCartney, Bobby McFerrin, Blue Rose Code, Craig Armstrong, Blazing Fiddles to name but a few incredible people that Angus has worked with in the past) at Grans House Recording Studio in Scotland. These forthcoming releases enhance the bands Americana route which they have taken forward with tracks such as Old Stories, Feel’s like yesterday and Get running clearly cutting that Americana edge. They show diversity and a softer approach with a personal touch and life changing events in tracks such as Us and Home – two songs that cry out for hope and love from one another. All tracks feature Iain Sloan on guitar who is also one of the UK’s finest Pedal Steel guitar players. Iain has performed with multiple artists including Blue Rose Code, Peter Bruntnell, My Darling Clementine, Louise Connell, Norrie McCulloch, Yola Carter and his own band The Wyntown Marshals. Also featuring on some of the tracks is Archie Macfarlane on accordion who is also a well-respected musician on the Scottish Ceilidh circuit.
With their combined experience to date and diverse influences ranging from R.E.M, Crowded House, Bruce Springsteen, The Stereophonics, Pink Floyd, U2 and Radio Head to more recent artists such as Jack Savoretti, Noah Gundersen and Keith Urban, this Americana, contemporary country style blend of toe tapping acoustic rock with a bit of cinematic flare in between seems like the perfect collaboration.

Patricio Johnson

‘It’s Only A Game’

[blues/americana]

Press Notes:

Madrid-born Patricio Johnson plays guitar and sings songs he has written for just about anyone who will listen. For nearly thirty years he has been writing and recording unique and powerful songs in the singer songwriter tradition. But Johnson veers from that tradition regularly, incorporating influences from blues, gospel, country, and garage rock seamlessly to build a body of work that always provides a fresh musical experience with emotional impact and a sense of humor. “The songs have to speak for themselves. In fact they have to get up and walk around the room by themselves before I think they’re good enough to play twice.”

1986 – 1991 paid dues in touring bands up and down the east coast and in California, including Charlie Pickett, Royal Trux, and Sid Griffin’s Coal Porters. He gained a foothold in San Francisco working with punk folkie Penelope Houston with whom he continued to write and record up until 2012. In 1991 Johnson released his first solo CD – The Wellsprings of Hope “Phonograph (Wellsprings of Hope being the name of the project – all songs are Johnson originals.) In 1993 Johnson moved to Germany where he had been signed to a Hamburg label Strange Ways

Records. He spent two years there, releasing Mooner (1993 – later reissued in US as October Moon) and Invisible Juan (1996).

Upon his return to San Francisco, Johnson continued writing and recording, as well as performing in popular live Country Rock throwbacks Dave Gleason’s Wasted Days. Fifteen-odd years passed quickly doing what he loves most, playing and singing. Johnson’s decision to come to Nashville was very much informed by the wealth of musical influences that derive from the 300 mile radius of the city. Blues, Gospel, R&B, Country, Rockabilly, all of these influence Johnson’s writing and his performances. To come to Nashville was, in some very definite way, to come home.

New Album: You Gotta Be Quick Around Here – available via all digital outlets. CD may be ordered at patriciojohnson.com.

Photo credits: Karol Livote

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Compiled by: Christos Doukakis