Tim O'Brien (b. March 16, 1954 in Wheeling, West Virginia) is an American bluegrass, old time and celtic musician. O'Brien plays guitar, fiddle, mandolin, bouzouki and mandocello and is an accomplished vocalist. He moved to Boulder, Colorado in the 1970s and became part of the music scene there. In 1978 he founded the bluegrass group Hot Rize. Hot Rize had its own offshoot band called Red Knuckles & the Trailblazers.
Tenji Nozoki (????) (born February 16, 1950), best known by the stage name Kazuki Tomokawa (?? ???), is a prolific Japanese musician, active in the Japanese music scene since the early seventies. He is often described as a "screaming philosopher". Multi-talented Kazuki Tomokawa (?????, singer, author, actor, painter, raconteur) remains curiously unappreciated in the West, in spite of creating some of the most consistently inspired, emotionally resonant outsider folk music of recent years.
Roxanne de Bastion now lives in London, England having moved to Stratford-upon-Avon in 2006 after several years performing live in her home-town of Berlin. She will be gigging in the UK, Europe and America in the autumn of 2009. Recent live highlights include the world famous Cavern Club in Liverpool and London's 100 Club. Her debut EP, 'Mono' was released on July 21st, 2008 on Zube Records, with a concert and release party at Jrink in Soho, London.
Joker’s Daughter is a project featuring vocalist, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Helena Costas. This fresh folk-pop excursion reveals new facets of the renowned artist and producer Danger Mouse, who collaborates with Costas throughout. Born in London but Greek Cypriot by origin, Helena Costas studied violin from ages 7 to 13, then taught herself guitar and keyboards. As she became an adult, her mission came into focus. She wrote songs relentlessly, learned the art of production, and gained confidence as a performer as she played gigs around London.
Patty Griffin, born Patricia Jean Griffin, March 16th, 1964 in Old Town, Maine, is an American folk singer. She brought out her debut album Living With Ghosts--a set of demos featuring only Ms. Griffin and her guitar--to critical acclaim in 1996. Her sophomore album, Flaming Red, demonstrated a more rocking, full-band sound. The ill-fated Silver Bell album was never released by her record label, however, and the label terminated her recording contract shortly after that. Many of the songs from Silver Bell were re-recorded for subsequent albums.
Martin Grech (pronounced ‘Greck’) is a Maltese-English singer, songwriter and musician from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, born in 1983. He is known for his dark and powerful music, remarkable voice, and frequent subversion of style and genre. He first achieved serious critical acclaim after his haunting falsetto track Open Heart Zoo (written when he was 19 years old) was featured on a Lexus car advert on UK television in 2002.
Angel Olsen hails from sunny, gorgeous, post-industrial St. Louis, Missouri. Beginning her performing career at age 16 in coffee shops, she now hones her craft in Chicago, Illinois, with recent tours to both seaboards and upcoming collaborations with members of the national indie music scene. Her intimate songwriting is coupled with a strong, ethereal tone and hypnotic rhythm acoustic guitar, borrowing from influences as varied as Skeeter Davis and homespun Americana to Spanish guitar and the French New-Wave chanteuse Francoise Hardy.
Blackmore's Night is an English Renaissance-inspired medieval folk rock band led by UK guitarist Ritchie Blackmore (electric and acoustic guitars) and Candice Night (lyricist and lead vocals). The origins of the band lie in 1990 when Candice was working at a local New York rock music radio station, and as part of her work first encountered Ritchie (now ex-Deep Purple/Rainbow guitarist), then with Deep Purple, at a soccer game he was playing in. The two became romantically entwined and discovered that they shared a passionate interest in the Renaissance.
Griselda Sanderson is a folk musician and lecturer at Dartington College of Arts, Devon, UK. Gris is a multi-instrumentalist, specialising in the fiddle, organ, calabash and nyckelharpa, the last which features strongly in her album Harpaphonics, released 26 Jan 2009. www.grissanderson.com/nyckelharpa.html
www.myspace.com/nyckelgris
"Keaton Henson spends his time alone, writing songs and sometimes drawing, he doesn't like to talk about himself." Visit www.keatonhenson.com