Thursday, June 4, 2009: "Few young artists have done as much to promote the local music scene as the Lonesome Hereos, who started up the Wednesday alt. country nights at the Hole in the Wall. Like the lineups that founders Rich Russell and Landry McMeans booked, the Heroes’ music has an eclectic roots range. There are touches of cosmic country and Sweetheart of the Rodeo in their psychedelic tinged, restless country tunes, but the real draw of the Heroes is excellent melding of Russell and McMeans in spirit and sound. McMeans dulcet twang and expansive dobro, and Russells’ more grounded drawl and guitar combine for a mesmerizing and beautiful exchange, while their songs evoke the open west Texas expanse of road and possibilities. With their latest album, Crooked Highway, they have assembled a stellar band of local luminaries" The Austin Sound Feb 23, 2009.

Thursday, May 14, 2009: With her highly acclaimed album, Mudshow (“A Small Miracle..” Rolling Stone) Krista Detor was established as a gifted player on the world stage. Together with partner and producer, David Weber, she’s since released the follow-up album, Cover Their Eyes (“One of the best albums of the year..” Revolver) continuing to push the edges of genre while remaining close throughout to the lyrical thread that defines her work.

She’s reached #1 on the Euro-Americana chart and her music’s been featured at the Cannes Film Festival, on NPR, PBS, the BBC, as well as countless U.S. and European National, Regional & Local radio shows. She’s appeared on both U.S. and European television and collaborated on the CD and Stage show Wilderness Plots, which has received rave reviews and will continue to tour throughout the U.S. well into the future.

Sunday, April 19, 2009: “Black is an artist of substance,” wrote Billboard in a review that compared his piano ballads to Randy Newman and his rockers to Bruce Springsteen. “I love songs about freeing the spirit and treating your individuality as something that’s precious and important,” Jeff explains. It might also explain why Jeff’s songs have been recorded – and often turned into hits – by artists as diverse as Waylon Jennings, Jo-El Sonnier, Sam Bush and BlackHawk. His work also appears on the soundtrack to the acclaimed PBS documentary The Appalachians and the independent film Steel City.

Saturday, March 7, 2009: "Not quite country, somewhere beyond folk, Holcombe's music is a kind of blues in motion, mapping backwoods corners of the heart." David Fricke Rolling Stone Magazine
Born and raised in the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina, Malcolm Holcombe is being recognized by the contemporary U.S and European folk/americana community as a performer of national stature, and an uncommonly unique guitarist/vocalist about whom Rolling Stone Magazine says: "Haunted country, acoustic blues and rugged folk all meet [here]..."
A new 12 song Malcolm Holcombe CD, Gamblin' House, was released January 29, 2008. There is strong and positive press surrounding this CD, including feature articles in the January/February 2008 No Depression Magazine, and in The Wall Streeet Journal(2/14/08), and rave reviews from Billboard Magazine, Harp Magazine, and Paste Magazine.
Gamblin' House was in the top 20 of the Americana Music Association chart for 9 straight weeks.

Thursday, Feb. 19, 2009: Victoria Vox moves the ukulele from the fringe bin to the pop bin. Vox graduated from The Berklee College of Music with honors and a degree in songwriting -- releasing a handful of DIY, guitar-driven albums before a friend gave her the 4-stringed instrument. It proved to be the perfect new partner for her rich voice and changed the way she wrote and arranged music. “The ukulele doesn't interfere with my range as much as a guitar, and because it's more simplistic, I feel that I move to different melodies than I would on the guitar,” explains Vox. “The ukulele has given some of my songs more of a jazz feel, which is mostly in song form more than anything. All of a sudden there was room for solos (which I do with my trumpetless trumpet.)”

Sunday, Jan. 18, 2009: When looking for expressive and uncommon sounds, Dolly Parton, Neil Young, Dan Seals, Hank Williams, Jr., Iris Dement and Glen Campbell all turned to the evocative sound of Gove Scrivenor's autoharp. When Gove released early albums on Flying Fish Records, his friends, Doc Watson, John Hartford, Marty Stuart, Buddy Emmons...all lined up to contribute to his recordings.
Now joined by John Prine, Nanci Griffith and Lari White for his first Compass Records release Shine On, Gove has created a collection of five self-penned and selected favorites of fellow artists. Gove, once again, introduces songs that are full of life and energy and his very personal, soulful sound.

Michael Reno Harrell
www.MichaelReno.com - www.myspace.com/michaelreno

Sunday, Nov. 9, 2008: Michael Reno Harrell is an award winning songwriter, as well as a veteran storyteller and entertainer, and he’s from the South…the Southern Appalachian Mountains to hone it a bit finer. Four decades of performing have taken him to over forty states and many foreign countries. One could compare Michael’s performances to his granddaddy’s pocket knife, well warn and familiar feeling, but razor sharp and with a point. He gets the job done. His recordings top the Americana Music Association charts year after year and his touring schedule stays full. Michael’s combination of music and storytelling are based in experience, sometimes downright funny, sometimes just plain scary, maybe even with a message worth taking away, but always mesmerizing and entertaining.

Red Molly
www.RedMolly.com - www.MySpace.com/redmollyband

Thursday, Oct. 23, 2008: "Everything Red Molly sings is delivered with tick-tight arrangements, crystalline vocals, and caramel harmonies. But what is most striking is the ardor they bring to everything they do, whether snuggling into the sweet parochialism of an old spiritual, or the gritty pathos of a Gillian Welch tune. They come on less like stars strutting for their minions than pals sharing their favorite songs. In the friendly world of the coffeehouse, that remains a starmaking quality."
-Scott Alarik, The Boston Globe

Stacey Earle & Mark Stuart
www.StaceyAndMark.com - www.MySpace.com/staceyearleandmarkstuart

Friday, Oct. 3, 2008: Stacey Earle and Mark Stuart at it again with their Gearle Records 2008 releases, "Love from Stacey & Mark" and Mark Stuart "Left of Nashville" available at shows only. Stacey and Mark reach back and grab songs of the past, then fast  forward to present and into the future... performing from their own new solo releases as well during their tour. Stacey and Mark is each veteran Dukes (of Steve Earle and the Dukes)

Beth Wood & Susan Gibson
www.BethWoodMusic.com - www.SusanGibson.com

Friday, Sept. 19, 2008: Inspired by an electric moment at a Rickie Lee Jones concert, Beth threw caution and her day-job to the wind to become a full-time musician. Twelve years, thousands of shows, seven albums, three cars, and numerous awards later, she has never looked back. Beth's exceptional musicianship, crafty songwriting, and warm stage presence have been winning over audiences from coast to coast. "It's really hard to not fall in love with Beth and her music," writes one Texas music journalist. Thanks to a healthy obsession with words, an ability to drive long distances, an innate musical sense, and keen observational skills, Beth finds herself perfectly suited for the job of modern-day troubadour.

Susan Gibson's "Wide Open Spaces" was a massive hit for the Dixie Chicks and her platinum calling card to fame. Last year's Outer Space re-established the Austin area resident in the ranks of popular singer-songwriters and reaffirmed her determined direction down the heartfelt hightways.

--Margaret Moser - Austin Chronicle

Ford Turrell
www.FordTurrell.com - www.MySpace.com/fordturrellmusic

Sunday, August 3, 2008: "[Ford] Turrell's smoky vocals and wispy, drifting melodies convey a certain mystique, but ultimately this is an album that quietly takes hold and then proves mesmerizing in the process." - Performing Songwriter, March/April 2008

"Soft-spoken but confident, Ford Turrell’s laid-back crooning propels his heartfelt lyrical jewels. The Nashville transplant’s 2007 eponymous debut explored familiar territory through gently inquisitive and moody compositions, turning heads and prompting enthusiastic praise from critics and rabid fan devotion."--BMI

"Ford Turrell's self-titled debut introduces us to a talented young artist to watch. Turrell's well-crafted songs and rootsy, organic sound will appeal to fans of Ray LaMontagne or David Gray, and his poetic lyrics will have you hanging on every word. A promising debut from a promising artist." -Abby White, Music Editor Performing Songwriter Magazine

Bob Delevante
www.BobDelevante.com - www.MySpace.com/bobdelevante

Friday, June 6, 2008: To understand Bob Delevante, one must abandon the traditional chronological timeline of the ‘artist’ for that of a compass. It would be easy to start from Hoboken, New Jersey and follow him to Nashville where today he securely remains one of a few mainstays of post-modern country music. It would be easy to list his achievements along the way: performances on national late night talk shows, major label record deals, collaborations with Emmylou Harris, John Prine, Alison Krauss and Steve Earle. It would be easy to speak of his critical acclaim whether it be glowing quips from ‘The New York Times’, a four star review from ‘Rolling Stone’, or the countless other national publications that herald him with each new album. Using chronology, one might discern a detail of Bob Delevante, but not the complete image of who he is as an artist.

John Flynn
www.JohnFlynn.net - www.MySpace.com/johnflynnfolksinger

Sunday, May 4, 2008: John Flynn writes from the heart. His powerful, memorable songs and live performances are known for their straightforward honesty and disarming humor. He is not just singing to us, he is singing of us. John began writing professionally in 1980 after graduating from Temple University with a degree in political science. He intended to study law, but a brief sojourn to Nashville’s Music Row led to a change of plans. A publishing contract with Combine Music, and a Billboard Magazine Top Forty country recording of his song “Rainbows and Butterflies” by Epic recording artist, Billy Swan (“I Can Help”) convinced John to settle in Nashville and write. Flynn’s writing, however, proved too introspective and poetic for country music. One early hit notwithstanding, he eventually concluded that the only category he wanted his songs to fit neatly into was the one called “From the Heart”. Despite, or perhaps because of this, John’s songs have been recorded by a wide range of artists, from Chris LeDoux to Full Frontal Folk.

Naked Blue
www.NakedBlue.com - www.MySpace.com/wwwnakedbluecom

Thursday, April 10, 2008: Borrowing from the Americana tradition, but firmly grounded with a pleasing pop sensibility, the performing songwriter team, Jen and Scott Smith, and their band, Naked Blue, have become one of the most successful independent acts in the Mid-Atlantic. In May 2003 they celebrated their 5th CD release, Five by Five, which has sold thousands of copies to date. Paste Magazine says: "Naked Blue has that universal appeal musicians yearn for....will make you want to dance and cry.."

Robinella with Jay Clark
www.Robinella.com - Robinella discography and bio - www.JayClarkMusic.com

Thursday, March 13, 2008: ROBINELLA treated us to an upclose experience with her best-known standards, as well as some newborn works in progress. After years of winning proponents and endorsements on the front side of the plucky CC String Band, she rode with major label propulsion into Americana recognition, on the strength of her smoky amalgam of Appalachian folk pop. The latest of her albums, "Solace for the Lonely", carried her into the realms of jazz and swing, while keeping her Knoxville roots apparent. We were fortunate to see her in near-solo exploration of her strongest material, in a smaller, more intimate venue... RobinElla came to us in duo with one of her original collaborators, songwriter Jay Clark.

The Kennedys
www.KennedysMusic.com - www.MySpace.com/thekennedysmusic

Thursday, Feb. 7, 2008: As much as we looked forward to hearing the full-force magic of The Kennedys' brilliant twin guitars and voices... we only had the great pleasure of one of them here for the show. Maura had a family medical emergency, and rather than cancel, Pete did the date solo- something he did with great success for many years, by the way, before meeting his perfect musical partner.
Pete and Maura Kennedy met at the Continental Club in Austin Texas. Within a year, they were touring together, as part of Nanci Griffith's band, and as the opening act on Nanci's two month tour of the British Isles. Eight CDs and half a million miles of touring later, they enjoy loyal followings in both the guitar camp and the singer-songwriter set. Ultimately it's their tight harmonies, their chemistry, and their unashamedly idealistic outlook that has carved them their own niche in the studio and onstage.

Jennifer Daniels
www.jenniferdaniels.com - www.myspace.com/jenniferdaniels

Sunday, Jan. 13, 2008: Jennifer Daniels performed with a power that rivals Ani DiFranco, and combines it with angelic melodies and lyrical rhythms reminiscent of Dido or Sarah McLachlan. Her intense, raw passion captivates the audience while her humorous banter between songs endears them. Paste Magazine writes, "It is a rare gift that someone can express such depth and power in lyrics, and it is even more rare that the lyrical gift is accompanied by such an amazing musical talent."

Rod Picott - w/Amanda Shires
www.RodPicott.com - www.myspace.com/rodpicott

Thursday, Nov. 29, 2007: Growing up in the small mill town of South Berwick, Maine, Picott was exposed to a surprising mix of musical influences. His father, a former marine owned a record collection that spanned from the marches of John Philip Sousa to Ray Charles and an older brother, an avid record collector, introduced Rod to the punk poetry of Patti Smith and The Clash, finishing the groundwork of influences that Rod would draw from later in his own music. The seacoast area of southern Maine had an unlikely but thriving local music scene in the 80's and and Picott spent his teenage years in garage cover bands and original bands playing the clubs from Boston, MA to Portland, ME. '94 saw a move to Nashville TN where Rod established himself as one of the better new writers in town and hosted a weekly showcase called Rod Picott's Fireside Whiskey Hour as well as opening shows for Alison Krauss and Union Station and Gillian Welch. His co-write "Broke Down" with Slaid Cleaves was the most played song on Americana radio in 2000.

Jack Williams
www.JackWilliamsMusic.com - www.myspace.com/musicofjackwilliams

Friday, Nov. 9, 2007: South Carolinian Jack Williams, guitarist/singer/songwriter/storyteller, is outstanding among a handful of artists who - in skill, depth and integrity – stand head and shoulders above the many performers flooding today’s folk circuit. Among acoustic guitarists he is near-legendary. Having avoided the compromises of the commercial music industry during his 45+-year professional career, he prefers touring “under the radar”, playing concerts, large and small, week in and week out, from the sheer love of music and performing.

Greg Trooper
www.GregTrooper.com - www.myspace.com/gregtrooper

Sunday, October 21, 2007: Greg Trooper: Rarely has there been a more aptly named singer/songwriter than Greg Trooper. Over three decades, the New Jersey native has soldiered on through the victories and setbacks unique to a career dedicated to music, proving through gestures large and small that he's one of our best. It's evident in the company he keeps, the critics who praise his recordings, the fans who invest in his shows and the artists who learn his songs, wishing they'd written them. It is most evident in what Amazon.com calls his "catalog of superbly crafted albums." This impressive discography testifies for an artist who has always served the song and the music above all other things.

Anais Mitchell
www.anaismitchell.com - www.myspace.com/anaismitchell

Sunday, Sept. 16, 2007: Listening to this 25-year-old singer/songwriter perform her meticulously written songs, fervently singing them in a distinctive, almost childlike voice, you’d think it was her life mission to rouse the hearts and minds of her listeners with an acoustic guitar. Mitchell started writing songs at age 17 and eventually started performing them live during her school days, which were punctuated by a remarkable amount of traveling. In a short period of time, Anaïs made several trips to the Middle East, and also spent time in Europe and Latin America, studying languages and world politics. This stunning, troubadour-like experience seeped into her music, and she became adept at fusing her passion for literature and journalism in her lyrics.

Tom Kimmel
www.TomKimmel.com - www.MySpace.com/tomkimmelmusic

Saturday, August 25, 2007: Tom Kimmel. Since 1980, when his songs were recorded by Roger McGuinn & Chris Hillman (of Byrds fame) and Levon Helm (of The Band), dozens of his compositions have been covered by a host of major artists including Linda Ronstadt, Johnny Cash, Joe Cocker, Shawn Colvin, Waylon Jennings, the Stray Cats, Randy Travis and the Spinners. Tom's songs have also been heard in television shows, in movies, and on several million records sold around the world. Kimmel's a highly spiritual man, but one who puts humor and reality at the forefront of his work. He's a whitewater kayaking enthusiast, a poet -- check out his new book, "The Sweetest and the Meanest" -- an impossible-to-pigeonhole stylist, an entertaining solo performer, and yes, a graduate of the University of Alabama.

Stacey Earle and Mark Stuart
www.StaceyAndMark.com - www.myspace.com/staceyearleandmarkstuart

Friday, August 3, 2007: Stacey Earle and Mark Stuart met for the first time 1991 at a songwriters night in Nashville TN. They knew that night it was one of them things that are just meant to be.Their Songs are the diaries of their life good times and bad, completing the love they have. They share the full load together of getting by day by day.They tour just about year around standing on stages of all sizes from festivals, main stage, workshops, theaters, club’s, coffee shops, churches, barns, house concerts, live radio, in stores and more. They have opened for some of the best of the road. Joan Baez, Steve Earle, Willie Nelson, Ralph Stanley, Richard Thompson, Gregg Brown, Iris Dement and again many more.

Audrey Auld Mezera
www.audreyauldmezera.com - www.myspace.com/audreyauldmezera

Saturday, July 7, 2007: Audrey Auld Mezera is a musician in the ‘Americ-kinda’ style - traditional American country and folk influences with strong Australian roots. "Music with the dirt left on" is how she describes her sound. Mezera is a spontaneous, engaging comedian & writer of humorous, provocative & poignant songs, with a distinctive trad country vocal style - a little bit Loretta Lynn and a touch of Randy Newman with that distinctive Aussie humor. Whether performing solo or accompanied by a stellar lead player Mezera connects with her audience.

Pierce Pettis
www.PiercePettis.com

Thursday, June 7, 2007: Pierce Pettis, adored by both critics and public alike, is one of this generation's most masterful songwriters. His music is distinguished by his uncanny ability to capture universals in human experience by drawing on the humor and trials in daily life. Pettis' music can simultaneously pull on our hearts and keep us laughing. The beautiful harmonies, inventive yet subtle percussion, strong guitar, and Pierce's rich vocals are a constant throughout his body of work.

Martha's Trouble
www.marthastrouble.com or www.myspace.com/marthastrouble

Friday, May 4, 2007: When they released "Sleeping Dogs," Rob and Jen Slocumb were simply hoping to make a good record that would sell. They had worked to produce a disc that would attract attention from bigger record labels and make Martha's Trouble a more recognizable entity on the folk music scene. The music duo, who split their time between the U.S. and Canada, got what they were bargaining for, and much more. Martha's Trouble won the "Best Americana Album of the Year" at the Just Plain Folks Awards for their 2003 release "Sleeping Dogs" in late 2004, and it has garnered its fair share of attention with movers and shakers in the folk music industry. They've continued that success with the release of their fifth full-length album, “Forget October,” which caught the attention of mvyradio in Martha's Vineyard.

porterdavis
www.loveporterdavis.com - www.myspace.com/porterdavismusic

Friday, April 6, 2007: Small Stages' featured Boston-Austin roots/blues trio PORTERDAVIS at Lucy's Tea and Coffee, in Birmingham's fabled Southside district. If you ache for a little whump and grit in your original acoustic music, these guys are guaranteed to serve it up... we got out of the house to loosen up to the gutsy rhythms, guitar rambles, and harp solos that define PD's distinctive South Texas Soul. Our host's way of supporting us with a party, of sorts--- with Dan, Mike, and Simon back in a town that's always happy to see 'em!

Greg Greenway
www.greggreenway.com - myspace.com/greggreenway

Sunday, March 4, 2007, Small Stages' first show: Those of you whose memories go back to the original Small Stages Music Connection will recall Greg's first visit to Birmingham back when Y2K was a real concern--- the intervening years have only sharpened his clear voice, guitar skills, and disarming social awareness. Here's a guy who's been chosen as one of the top dozen favorites from twenty years of music on WUMB, Bost's flagship folk radio station, and has his latest release "Weightless" nominated as the North American Folk Alliance's CD of the Year. Candid, confessional, and completely engaging, Greenway represents the highest caliber of the artists we will be inviting to Birmingham for our house concert schedule for 2007. You should take a moment here to examine his website, the best source for sampling his music, and learn how this man transforms the legacies of Woody Guthrie and Phil Ochs into something completely contemporary.