americana

Adam Gnade's (guh nah dee) work is released as a series of books and records that share characters and themes; the fiction writing continuing plot-lines left open by the self-described "talking songs" in an attempt to compile a vast, detailed, interconnected, personal history of contemporary American life. The lyrics of the songs come from prose writing (not poetry or spoken word) and the material is performed live, solo, with Adam on banjo or four-string guitar, generally unamplified, sitting or standing in the middle of the crowd.

Read more about Adam Gnade on Last.fm.

Dolly Varden is a Chicago-based band fronted by the singing / songwriting duo Steve Dawson and Diane Christiansen. Their music is equally influenced by folk and country harmony singing and pop-rock songwriting and instrumentation. They have been together for 13 years and have released 5 full length CD's. The full line-up includes guitarist Mark Balletto, bassist Mike Bradburn and drummer Matt Thobe

Mr Bones and The Dreamers are a bookish band with twelve legs between them; apportioned two per member. They play indie folk-music that was described by sax playing ex-president Bill Clinton as ' the sound of Dolly Parton singing Joy Division songs, alone and drunk in her Dollywood mansion after an expansive session on the gin'. Then again, what does he know? Find us at one of the following and say hello, it's where you can proclaim that you love/despise us.

There are two Peter Coopers on this page: 1) Peter Cooper was five-years-old when he caught his first Kristofferson show in Charlotte, NC, not too far from Cooper's hometown of Spartanburg, SC. Something about the experience must have stuck, and from there it was on to Bobby Bare, Bob Dylan, Mickey Newbury, Emmylou Harris, Guy Clark, Eric Taylor and others who manage emotional literacy without ever seeming unduly literary. That's a tough trick to learn and Cooper's debut album, "Mission Door", is proof that he studied well.