Elephant Revival - This soulful, seductive quiver of 20-something songwriters and multi-instrumentalists reign from points across the United States. Since Oct. 2006, Dan Rodriguez, Bonnie Paine, Dango Rose, Sage T. Cook and Bridget Law have herded in a greatly applauded neo-acoustic gyptic revival at festivals, clubs, house concerts and theaters from the Rockies to the Ozarks and all points in between

The individual members carry a vast amount of instrumental talent - Rodriguez plays a distinctive finger-style acoustic guitar while Law enchants the audience with her fiddle. Rose grooves on the upright bass and mandolin while Cook plays a variety of instruments including electric banjo, electric guitar, mandolin and upright bass. Ms. Paine channels the rhythmic mean on the washboard and djembe, and occasionally will bow an eerie yet angelic line out of the musical saw. Bonnie’s vocal prowess has been compared to the likes of Natalie Merchant and Grace Slick but her uniqueness cannot be pinned down by comparison.

Individually and collectively the band members have performed with some of the most prolific performers of our time like Michael Franti, Bela Fleck, John Paul Jones, Yonder Mountain String Band, Leftover Salmon, Little Feat, members of Nickel Creek, George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, Hot Buttered Rum, Hackensaw Boys, New Monsoon, Railroad Earth, Vince Herman, Drew Emmitt, Benny Galloway, Crooked Still, Uncle Earl, The Mammals, Randy Crouch, Kirk Rundstrum, My Tea-Kind, members of String Cheese Incident, Boubacar Diebate, Tha Musemeant, Taarka, Cornmeal, High on the Hog, John Cowan and countless others in personal and public scenarios.

www.elephantrevival.com

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www.myspace.com/elephantrevival

Cadillac Sky - When the first strains of Cadillac Sky’s “Born Lonesome” come pulsing out of the speakers, it’s immediately apparent that there’s a different kind of roots band on the scene—one wrapped in tradition, but not bound by it. That song, which opens their Skaggs Family Records debut, Blind Man Walking, has a high, lonesome sound that would do the great Ralph Stanley proud. And when they follow that up with “You Again,” a song where they display the ferocious intensity of the great rock and roll bands, it’s obvious Cadillac Sky is a band poised for greatness.

They are the perfect marriage of tradition and innovation. This original approach comes from a deep-seated respect for tradition wrapped around an unbridled musical curiosity. There’s no dichotomy in the band’s sound, just a synthesis of the band’s eclectic influences. The Cadillac Sky sound is the fruition of bandleader Bryan Simpson’s groundbreaking vision to create a band that can use traditional bluegrass instrumentation to create a fresh, and original sound. The band first came together in 2002 in Texas when Simpson (mandolin, vocals) teamed up with young banjo whiz Matt Menefee. The timing was perfect because Simpson was beginning to have success as a mainstream country songwriter but was burdened by a deep well of more personal material that he felt deserved a forum but had no vehicle for. Menefee’s colorful and rhythmic banjo playing combined with a similar musical vision, was the launching pad that Simpson had hoped for but not expected to find. They soon added the rock solid veteran influence of Mike Jump. And shortly after, on the word of Menefee, added the virtuoistic, Ross Holmes (fiddle, vocals), and, more recently, the talents of Houston native, Andy “Panda” Moritz (bass, vocals).

www.cadillacsky.net

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www.myspace.com/cadillacsky

Reid Genauer and Adam Terrell of  AOD, two dudes from the Northeast, aren't about to save anything aside the last few drops of Jack Daniels ("You gonna finish that?") and maybe your marriage (“Let’s get it on.”). But again, they understand that. They are musicians, after all, but perhaps even more so, masochists, and it is in that spirit that they have taken the completely original step of releasing a debut studio album (hear hear!), called Recollection, due out on Hybrid Recordings on Mar. 6, 2007. It’s ten songs by five dudes -- no muss, no fuss, and by God we should all be grateful for that.

The five culprits for Assembly of Dust are co-songwriters Reid Genauer (lead vocals and former Strangefolk co-founder) and Nate Wilson (keyboards), Adam Terrell (lead guitar), John Leccese (bass) and Andy Herrick (drums). They've been playing together for roughly five years (it sounds like six and three-quarters, to their credit), and they tour a lot, playing at Bonnaroo and Carnegie Hall, and they've opened for the Who, David Crosby, Michael Franti and Spearhead and the Dead (they know people who know people).

Assembly of Dust isn’t the worst batch of musicians you'll ever hear. Three of them are formally trained (correspondence school), they stay in tune, Terrell is only a lick short of a Tootsie Pop and Genauer could teach you a thing (or two, if we're feeling generous) about crooning at the harvest moon. They also practice really hard (at getting drunk) and have not-half-bad taste in music: The Band, My Morning Jacket, Neko Case, Paul Simon, Gillian Welch and Calexico are obvious faves. But basically they sound like Traffic with a big helping of Little Feat, which is pretty damn cool since the late, great Lowell George could have swallowed all of those folks whole and written 17 songs about tidal clams that would make you laugh, cry, fall in love, cheat and fall out of love before your morning coffee.

www.assemblyofdust.com

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www.myspace.com/assemblyofdust

 The widespread appeal of HBR’s music stems not only from the band’s musical versatility and prolific songwriting, but also from the magnetic chemistry the group creates onstage together. It was this chemistry that drew the group together, and that holds it together still through the rigors of their involved professional life together. It is this chemistry that audiences are consistently drawn to and caught up in, comment on effusively at shows and in online chat groups. It is this chemistry that is propelling the band to ever greater success.

HBR is committed to achieving its musical goals in an environmentally sensitive manner. Since 2003, the band has toured in vehicles that run on vegetable oil and bio-diesel instead of fossil fuel products. Doing this has not been easy, especially in the early days. But, being in a business that requires driving thousands of miles each year, HBR knows that using alternative fuel is one of the most effective ways it can reduce its ecological footprint. The band enjoys performing for educational assemblies and benefit concerts, and many of their songs seek to raise awareness about the socially and environmentally volatile era in which we live. Above all, HBR’s goal is to satisfy their audience’s minds, hearts and dancing feet with a unique and uplifting blend of progressive American music.

Hot Buttered Rum's
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