Young folks focuses on the best, fresh folk, acoustic, singer-songwriter indie folk & alt-country jams. Turn it up Folks!
Hank Midnight
‘Slow Motion’
[indie folk/avant pop/psych]
Press Notes:
Hank Midnight is the avant-pop project of multi-instrumentalist songwriter, producer, and recording artist, Henry Mittnacht. Memory Box (slated for release in late summer/early fall of 2022) is his first official full-length. He developed the album with Executive Producer, Johnny Esposito, and producer/arranger, Matthew Fishman. Its songs evoke a musical journey through memory and channel synaesthetic distances across the fourth-dimension.
Our Atlantic Roots
‘Golden Hour’
[indie folk/pop]
Press Notes:
Cornwall based indie duo, Our Atlantic Roots (Mac and Laura Johnston), bring an uplifting blend of American & British alt-folk, with harmonies that are rich, dynamic and unite beautifully. Mac’s guitar playing is full of character and accompanies lyrics that are both poetic and direct, hopeful and authentic.
The married duo present a blend of the cultures they are individually from, by merging various genres characterized by their country and folk roots. With a growing fanbase since their popular 2019 release ‘Little Bird’, and with over a million streams on Spotify alone, the duo’s coming release in summer 2022 is bound to turn heads.
Ludlow Creek
‘Stoney Lonesome Road’
[americana/soft rock]
Press Notes:
Formed in 2013, “Southbound” has performed numerous shows and entertained thousands. Over the years, they began creating music that embodies the sound and feel of their various musical influences, and eventually decided to pursue writing and performing their own material full time. As the band prepared to release their second album over the winter of 2021-2022 they renamed themselves, and Ludlow Creek was born. Ludlow Creek is a group of 5 close friends and accomplished singer instrumentalists who love to create and perform music. Blessed with a strong bond of friendship and utilizing an array of instrumentation, they create genuine, heartfelt music with thoughtful melodies, infectious hooks, and featuring intricate vocal harmonies. Generating a sound that can only be described as “modern classic rock,” some have compared their catalog of material to the sound and feel of The Doobie Brothers and The Eagles.
Parkland
‘North of the Border’
[indie folk/americana]
Press Notes:
Coming from bands such as Close Talker and Rah Rah – Parkland is a new band that formed its creative process by allowing each musician to write separately without hearing the others’ interpretations. Each performance was recorded in basements and friends’ home-studios in figurative (and at times literal) isolation from one another, yet the album has the feel of a full band in a warm room. Given full freedom to write the parts they envisioned, Jerms Olson (bass), Janelle Moskalyk (guitar/vocals), Ian Cameron (pedal steel), Jeffrey Romanyk (drums), and Steve Schneider (keys/vocals) each added to Quiring’s lyrical and musical exploration, creating what amounts to an intentional album spanning the genres of folk, country, emo, and indie rock, never fully committing to one but giving a respectful nod to them all.
Parkland is a place of contrast and a place of adaptation. The debut self-titled album of Parkland, written and pieced together inside the heads of six musicians across Treaty 6 and Treaty 4 territories in western Canada, negotiates the space between personal discovery and cooperative writing.
Brent Mathews
‘Cincinnati’
[indie folk/singer-songwriter/pop]
Press Notes:
Hey, I’m Brent!
“I’m not supposed to be here, doing this” was a common echo in my head over the past 10 years as I navigated a corporate 9-5.
Truth is, that’s what I felt on most days when I was without music. I came close to the dream of turning this hobby into a profession when I was a kid in college with a guitar and a computer: MTV and Universal Records were holding a songwriting competition in 2006. I thought “what the hell” & submitted a song that was barely audible and super clunky. Turns out that some people liked it and that crappy little recording ended up in the top 5 of the nationwide search for a new artist.
Today, I’m grateful that I didn’t “make it” back then. There was a lot more maturing, life, and stories ahead of me that I needed to experience.
Over the years, I’ve shared a few songs here and there with some family and friends. With their recent encouragement, I decided it now was the right time to turn this into a more focused pursuit. This is now my life 24/7 and I am so happy!
So here I am, breaking open all of these songs that were lost on old computers with forgotten passwords, and re-recording them. And while I’m at it, I’m also writing and recording new ones like that college kid used to do.
Lauren Reno
‘Bottle’s Worth A Dime’
[country/americana]
Press Notes:
Lauren Reno is an American country music artist, songwriter, and musician. Born in rural Nevada, apart of the Cherokee Indian Tribe and a Gold Miner’s Daughter. Lauren was raised on country music such as Martina McBride, Patsy Cline, and Johnny Cash. Her father, Eddie Dimock, also a country music artist, was signed to Capital Records in the early 90s. She spent her early 20’s writing songs, performing wineries, honky tonks, and working long shifts at the local Gold Mine. Lauren is known for her big powerhouse vocals and “old soul” songwriting. Critics have best described Lauren’s music as “outlaw” country with Americana-Folk roots. Her fans have said, Lauren knows how to blend the “old and the new” perfectly for a sound that contemporary country music has been longing to hear again.
In 2015, she released an Acoustic EP, titled “Seasons” under her maiden name Lauren Dimock. Produced by Adam Palmer, Seasons EP has been featured in top playlists and performed regionally. However, these early demos were the start of something great which would spark a creative flow again after meeting Nashville record producer Ben Reno. The two met on Tinder while Ben was on job out in Nevada composing music for Casinos. Long story short, Lauren and Ben ended up falling in love, having two beautiful children, moved back to Nashville, and continued their musical legacy together. Lauren and Ben are co-owners of Nashville’s hit-making recording facility, Majestic Ape. Majestic Ape Studio is home to many established songwriters and artists.
Over the pass decade, Lauren has been co-writing and tracking songs in the cracks of raising children, and running the studio. Reno has released three singles to the country market, “Don’t Think, Crooked Smile, and Bottle’s Worth A Dime.” All have went onto establish notable press and recognition in the country music industry. Lauren announced a full length album, “Gold Rush” will be released August 5th, 2022. Produced by Ben Reno. The album will include 11 songs, recorded in Nashville at Majestic Ape Studio and Pentaverit Studios. Reno has described “Gold Rush” as an effortless record, stating it happened so organically and naturally.
“Gold Rush Album” is coming August 5, 2022!
M. Lockwood Porter
‘The Kid Who Ran Away’
[indie folk/americana]
Press Notes:
M. Lockwood Porter’s Communion in the Ashes is a rallying cry for the hopeless and heartbroken, its lyrics set to a soundtrack of anthemic heartland rock & roll. This is a record that addresses our modern-day social problems from a perspective of hope, encouraging those who listen to focus on activism and community-building rather than despair. Along the way, Porter delivers some of the most engaging, electrifying songs of his career, rooting these melodic calls-to-action in the stomp and epic swagger of a five-piece road band.
Born into a working-class family in rural Oklahoma, Porter launched his songwriting career after relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area, kicking things off with 2013’s Judah’s Gone. There, in the nation’s most expensive real-estate market, he also taught classes to underprivileged students at an inner-city school, a job that gave him a close-up view of the nation’s growing class divide and its many symptoms, including poverty, gentrification, and homelessness. As his cross-country touring increased, so did the presence of political and social issues within his music, with 2016’s How to Dream Again taking influence from the socially-conscious works of Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. After writing 2019’s Communion in the Ashes, Porter returned to Oklahoma with the goal of contributing to a growing artistic community and, hopefully, affecting social change.
Skinny Dyck
‘TV Blue’
[alt country/twang]
Press Notes:
Twang savant Skinny Dyck has put on weight since his debut LP Get to Know Lonesome (2020) – a delight to fans of traditional country music but in equal measure with an alternative leaning audience. On first listen, the Lethbridge, Alberta-based singer/songwriter Skinny may sound like a throwback to classic country artists of the 1960s, but get to know him a little better and it’s clear that he’s firmly part of the new generation of artists pushing country forward into the 21st Century. “I think that’s a result of the aesthetic and the sandwiches” relays Dyck in reference to his penchant toward a tape-saturated, mid-fi sonicscape, coupled with sparse arrangements. Led by the success of the twangy indie-rocker Dreamin’, Get to Know Lonesome found an audience for capturing the “distilled spirit of wide-cut country” (Exclaim!) out of a few days with an 8-track machine in his living room.
Skinny makes strides on his latest EP, Palace Waiting (out September 2022), which includes “In On The Upswing” and “TV Blue,” set to be released as a 7-inch single through Swedish label Sound Asleep Records. Produced with Billy Horton (Charley Crockett, Theo Lawrence) in Texas, Skinny capitalizes with brevity on Palace Waiting, pouring an equal measure of traditional country and austere country-folk. “The proverbial Palace exists for everyone” says Skinny. “Maybe a swing set with a view of the river, or perhaps a little dram of forgiveness you find for yourself after another year of wandering with the lights on long after the party’s over.”
Happy Curmudgeons
‘Rustic Glory’
[country/americana]
Press Notes:
The Happy Curmudgeons are a group of studio musicians assembled by Dave Hamilton. The band is devoted to getting inside the musical note and finding the soul, passion and spirit it creates.
Maja Lena
‘The Curtain’
[alt folk/acoustic/singer-songwriter]
Press Notes:
Maja Lena is the moniker and Swedish nickname of singer-songwriter Marianne Parish. On Pluto, she continues her collaboration with producer and former bandmate Rob Pemberton, recording at Rob’s home studio in Stroud and relishing the comfort of familiar surroundings from their time together in Low Chimes. She’s also joined in her live band by Alex Heane who plays bass with Willy Mason. Both performers also play with Rachael Dadd, a frequent collaborator. The album’s distinct visuals are the result of Martha Webb again on videos for Pluto as well as Aloha Bonser Shaw. Once again, Maja Lena has painted all of her own artwork for the album.
[All Press Notes provided by the artists]
Compiled by: Christos Doukakis