club cafe

Recorded in May 2017 in the mountain town of Hope, Idaho, Baerd’s new album Crete seems an aural testament to the hillsides in which its songs were conceived. Steeped in elusive but firm folk sensibilities, it sees the Boston-based band expanding in depth, both thematically and melodically, beyond their previous releases.

Lead single and title track Crete is no exception, proffering a tectonic, ever-building incursion into tangled introspection in its self-contained pursuit of esotericism. Written largely while camping in South Dakota, “Crete” – based conceptually off the Greek myth of King Minos and the labyrinth in which he hid his shame – sees singer/songwriter Isaiah Beard discussing his penchant for rationalizing the irrational: hiding complex emotions during stressful situations using walls of outward intellectualism.

Beneath intricate folk-prog arrangements and surging harmonic movements that bring to mind baroque-pop iterations of Fleet Foxes or Tallest Man on Earth, Beard uses “Crete” to regard himself reflexively, examining the past to envision a future in which he need no longer construct mazes of “intellectual bullshit” to hide his feelings.

Ultimately, It serves as a reminder. Beard hopes that Crete, suffused with folk stylings as it is, can help listeners connect honestly with their feelings – like it does for him. “I hope people can get lost – and found – in it,” he says.

Jason Walker grew up in Pittsburgh, singing in church choirs and then in local R&B and Blues bands. He first shined on the national spotlight with a winning performance on TV’s Its Show Time at the Apollo.
Following his TV debut, he moved to New York City and was quickly signed to dance music icon Junior Vasquez's, label, JVM, where he recorded two albums, “This Is My Life” and “Flexible,” garnering three Top 10 Billboard hits (“My Life,” “No More,” and “Movin’ On”), two Billboard #1s (“Foolish Mind Games” and “Set It Free”) Jason and Tony Moran first met through Junior Vasquez when Vasquez
commissioned Tony Moran to remix “Set It Free.” Jason would go on to receive 2 IDMA (International Dance Music Award) nominations including one for Best Breakthrough Dance Artist.
In 2010, Walker released his third full-length album “Leave It All Behind” independently, landing his seventh Top 20 Billboard Dance hit. His eighth release, “Raise Your Hands,” climbed to #17 on the Billboard charts. He followed with “Beat Don’t Stop” (a song that peaked at #5 on Billboard), “Tell It To My Heart” (an explosive re-imagining of Taylor Dayne’s pop classic, produced by Bimbo Jones, that hit #10 on Billboard), “So Happy” and “Say Yes” (his third and forth Billboard #1s).
To support their newly released single “I’m in Love with You,” Tan Man Music has commissioned remixes from some of the top names in dance music, including Rosabel, Moto Blanco, Sted E and Hybrid Heights, Mike Cruz, Tommer Mizrahi, Strobe, Dinaire and Bissen, Boris, and more.
Moran and Walker also re-enlisted videographer Karl Giant, the director of the “So
Happy” and “Say Yes” music videos. Giant, in turn, brought in artist Randy Polumbo,
whose work has exhibited at the Bass Museum in Miami, Art Basel Miami Beach,
Burning Man and Coachella, as well as a few World champion and Olympic ice skaters, to create a visual work of art for “I’m in Love with You.”

The Legendary Shack Shakers’ hell-for-leather roadshow has earned quite a name for itself with its unique brand of Southern Gothic that is all-at-once irreverent, revisionist, dangerous, and fun. Led by their charismatic, rail-thin frontman and blues-harpist JD Wilkes, the Shack Shakers are a four-man wrecking crew from the South whose explosive interpretations of the blues, punk, rock and country have made fans, critics and legions of potential converts into true believers.

After taking more than a year off to work on other projects (including JD Wilkes's book "Barn Dances & Jamborees Across Kentucky"), the band is re-mobilizing in the fall of 2014 much to the excitement of many a Shack Shaker fanatic. Despite the group’s time off, their reputation for intensity has stuck with them. On stage, JD has been compared to the likes of Iggy Pop, David Byrne, and Jerry Lee Lewis. The Nashville Scene named Wilkes “the best frontman in Nashville” in 2002, while former Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra has called JD “the last great Rock and Roll frontman.” Having joined the band in early 2012, garage blues guitar player Rod Hamdallah--who also lends his prowess to Wilkes's side project ‘JD Wilkes and the Dirt Daubers'--is back in the Shack Shakers’ lineup. The rhythm section is rounded out with Brett Whitacre on drums and Mark Robertson thumping out the upright bass.

Although not legendary upon being named, the band has grown into its reputation the last several years due to their heavy tour schedule, six critically acclaimed studio albums, and songs that have been featured on television shows such as HBO’s True Blood. Past tour mates and fans include Reverend Horton Heat, Rancid, The Black Keys, Slim Cessna’s Auto Club, and Hank Williams III. Robert Plant is also a noted Legendary Shack Shakers fan, and picked the band to open for him on his 2005 tour of Europe. Plant named the band's third album Believe as one of his favorite records of 2005. The list of esteemed admirers goes on to include horror novelist Stephen King, who listed “CB Song” as among his iPod’s Top Five in a 2008 Entertainment Weekly article. Such a wealth of devoted fans over the years has only added to the mystique that the Legendary Shack Shakers possess, carrying them down the road toward new creative pursuits and barn-shaking tunes.

THE LEGENDARY ILS SONT PARTIS BAND
featuring BUCKWHEAT ZYDECO JR.

"Keeping the legacy of BUCKWHEAT ZYDECO Alive"
One of the best bands in America.
– The New York Times

BUCKWHEAT ZYDECO was the preeminent ambassador of Louisiana's zydeco music. If you’ve gotten into zydeco music, or felt its influence, or watched the world celebrate this great aspect of Louisiana culture over the past 30+ years it’s likely been because of Buckwheat Zydeco and his Legendary Ils Sont Partis Band. No other zydeco artist has come close to selling as many records or exposing the music to more people around the world. Buckwheat Zydeco and his Legendary Ils Sont Partis Band has played many major music festivals around the world, including the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Newport Folk Festival, Summerfest, San Diego Street Scene, Bumbershoot, Montreaux Jazz Festival, Pori Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival and countless others.

On September 24,2016 Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural, Jr. passed away when he lost his battle with cancer.
Stanley "BUCKWHEAT" Dural, Jr. was the fearless leader of the Legendary Ils Sont Partis Band. The BUCKWHEAT ZYDECO celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2009, and capped it with the release of the Grammy Award-winning Alligator CD, Lay Your Burden Down. In February of 2010 the album won for Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album. Buckwheat Zydeco had been nominated four previous times in three different categories. This was the band’s first Grammy win. The Legendary Ils Sont Partis band members have appeared with Buck on shows such as David Letterman, Jimmy Fallon, Conan Obrien, Carson Daily, CNN, The Today Show, MTV, NBC News, CBS Morning News and many others. The band has performed at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, both President Clinton’s Inaugurals, and also with the Boston Pops to name a few special events.

Taking what he learned from his father over the past three decades,
Sir Reginald Master Dural is leading the Legendary Il SONT PARTIS BAND- and keeping the Buckwheat Zydeco legacy alive. Sir Reginald will assume the role of the lead vocalist, accordion player and keyboardist. Along side him is his father’s long time friend Bassist and Musical Director of 33 years, Lee Allen Zeno. The other Il Sont Partis band members who performed with Buckwheat Zydeco for a quarter century or more includes Drummer Kevin Menard, Rub Board Mathew Roberts and Trumpeter Curtis Watson. Also joining the band, Buck’s long time friend Louisiana legend and Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame Guitarist Paul "Lil Buck" Senegal.

Meet fellow musicians, collaborate on songs with others and refine your songwriting techniques with the help of a group environment. Open to all interested in attending even if you do not wish to participate, and open to all skill levels.

Singer/songwriter Eric Sommer is an unbelievable intersection of improbable influences and experiences channeled into an amazingly diverse catalog and a résumé that reads more like a musical adventure novel than a series of career bullet points.
Sommer emerged from the Boston music scene in the ’80s with a vengeance, a Folk guitarist with a percussive, open-tuning style adapted from the likes of David Bromberg, Steve Howe, Townes Van Zandt and Brit Folk legend Davy Graham. But Boston was also a hotbed of New Wave, Power Pop and Punk at that point, and Sommer absorbed those influences as well, creating a Byrdsian jangle sound that earned him opening slots for national touring acts and regular bookings at the renowned Paradise Theatre.
Sommer eventually relocated to Europe where he scored tours with Bram Tchaikovsky, Wreckless Eric and Nick Lowe, calling Denmark and the Netherlands home for awhile. After honing his personal songwriting style and playing every conceivable club on the European circuit, Sommer returned to Boston homeless and broke.
Living on the streets and in abandoned squats, Sommer played every available open mic and picked up guitar tips from David Landau and Gary Burton/Steve Howe sideman Mick Goodrick, which led to the formation of a trio called The Atomics, which offered up an American version of Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson and Nick Lowe during its run. While The Atomics opened for the Dead Kennedys and Gang of Four and became one of Boston’s best local New Wave outfits, Sommer was finding constant inspiration in the works of Jeff Beck, Pat Martino, Joe Pass and Charlie Christian.
With The Atomics’ dissolution, Sommer’s wanderlust took him to New York, Atlanta and finally the suburbs of Washington, D.C., where he founded the Georgetown Film Festival and embarked on a phase of independent film scoring. Since then, Sommer has been a troubadour with no fixed address, playing well over 250 gigs a year and slowing down just long enough to record a handful of brilliant albums, including Rainy Day Karma with his band, Solar Flares, and his latest solo effort, Brooklyn Bolero.
If there’s any lingering doubt about Sommer’s supernatural versatility, consider that he’s opened for Old 97’s, Nickel Creek’s Sara Watkins, Bluegrass icon Jerry Douglas, Mates of State, Dr. John, Leon Redbone and Built to Spill, to name a few - and Dead Kennedy’s, Mission to Burma, Gang of Four, and Elvis Costello, Wreckless Eric and Brahm Tchaikovsky...
Whether in band or one-man form (which nakedly showcases his amazing acoustic Blues guitar stylings), Sommer is a living history of contemporary music and a musical force of nature.

Jim Avett of Concord, North Carolina, is the son of a Methodist minister and a classical pianist who grew up in a home full of love and music, a home where he learned the importance of hard work and honest living. He and his wife instilled these same values in their children, tempered with a lot of fun, and of course, music. Jim’s guitar was an ever present instrument, and there was always singing.

As much as he enjoyed writing and performing music, Jim put his family first and spent 35 years running his welding company, building bridges along much of the east coast in order to provide for them. After retiring from welding, he returned to music and recorded Jim Avett and Family, a collection of gospel music, with his children, Bonnie, Scott and Seth in 2008. Soon after, in 2010, he released Tribes, a collection of original tunes ranging from soulful love ballads like the title track to the more lighthearted, "Fight with a Bottle of Booze". In Second Chance, Jim’s latest offering, the influences of classic country and early rock and roll are apparent. Once again, he draws on life experiences to write songs about love ("Pictures in the Attic"), boyhood memories, ("Willard"), and loss ("Holy Ground").

You can find Jim performing in listening rooms and at festivals from the Southeast to New England. His shows are a combination of beloved country tunes, his original ballads, and the stories he tells to introduce them. Once comes away from a Jim Avett performance with the feeling that this is an honest man sharing his life and his love of music. It’s like spending the evening on the front porch singing and talking with a good friend.

From the salvaged sounds of American juke joints, back porches, honky tonks and rock clubs, The Suitcase Junket conjures an entirely new sound in this essential rock collection, Pile Driver. The Suitcase Junket is Matt Lorenz: artist, tinkerer, swamp yankee, one man band. His is the road worn voice rising over the grind of a tube amped dumpster guitar, with wild double pitches of throat singing. From The Suitcase Junket's penchant for thrift and ingenuity comes this full length album his debut at Signature Sounds of original rock anthems, mountain ballads, blues manifestos and dance hall festivity, played on instruments built of broken bottles, twisted forks, dried bones, gas cans, shoes, saw blades, a toy keyboard, and an overhead compartment’s worth of luggage.

Campdogzz are dialed into the bleak, spirited heart of the industrial Midwest. The Chicago-based fivepiece
band harbors driving rhythms, insistent dual guitars set in intriguing arrangements, and the
haunting, evocative voice of Tulsa, OK-native Jess Price. Her melodies take on the shape of a storm
making its way in -- and out just as soon. There’s a feeling of electricity, of winds shifting, a magical mix of
both comfort and unease.
In Rounds, Campdogzz’s sophomore album, was written partially in Chicago but mostly throughout the
Southwest as Price and guitarist/vocalist Mike Russell traveled, post-tour, in the schoolbus that used to
serve as their band van. Engulfed by desert, this starkness -- like Price’s native Oklahoma -- couldn’t help
but seep into the songs. It was a period of collective change for the band as relationships began and
ended, people moved and planted new roots. Everyone experienced some sort of massive life shift and
the album serves as a reflection of that period, of growth and patience.
Price, who moved to Chicago to become a filmmaker, has spent her life writing songs. She never
considered pursuing music, however, until her introduction to Russell and Nick Enderle (guitar, synth)
while filming a documentary on their previous band, Suns. While Price is the main songwriter, Russell has
been equally integral to the band from the start, shaping the sound and contributing a song completely of
his own on each album. Campdogzz’s self-released 2015 debut album Riders in the Hills of Dying
Heaven was the brainchild of solely the pair and came together quickly, but In Rounds represents a shift
in their creative process. The new album is a more collaborative and intentional effort, written over a
couple of years and recorded in 2017 in Chicago. Like its predecessor, In Rounds is self-produced, but
this time with production assistance from engineer Nick Poplio.
Campdogzz have earned a devoted following in Chicago and the surrounding Midwest, with a solid lineup
featuring Price (vocals, guitar, organ), Russell (guitar, backing vocals), Enderle (guitar, synth), Andrew
Rolfsen (bass), and Chris Dye (drums). In addition to their own headlining shows and a recent tour with
Field Report, the band has opened for Big Thief, Sam Evian, Ohmme, and more. They were recently
seen in the first season of the Netflix series “Easy,” while Riders in the Hills of Dying Heaven has been
streamed more than two million times. With In Rounds, Campdogzz usher us into the dusty windstorm of
a melodic midwest -- aching with yearning and regret -- their hymns offering solace on the long road away
from home.