Sailing To Denver
Performing April 17, 2019 at Canoe
7:00 — 10:00PM
What started as a group of friends getting together to learn each other’s favorite songs in 2011, has developed into one of Atlanta’s most original and universally adored acts: Sailing to Denver. Strong vocal harmonies, backed by beautiful and interesting string arrangements, make it difficult to ignore this band’s performance and buzz around town. Each member of the group, having been veterans of many other bands throughout the 2000’s, has developed to become a better player individually, and especially as a unit, since forming. When first seeing them live, it is quickly apparent that they are having as much or more fun than the audience.
After releasing their self-titled debut record in Dec, they have been experiencing a wave of momentum that was not only unexpected, but has made the winter of 2013 one of confident creation and cultivation of an act the artists themselves didn’t even see coming. And that is exactly what they are. A band you don’t even see coming. But find yourself at one of Atlanta’s most happenin’ bars or hottest festivals when they are hosting Sailing to Denver and you will be swept away with the tide and everything else.
Sans Abri
Performing April 24, 2019 at Canoe
7:00 — 10:00PM
The literal translation of “Sans Abri” is “without shelter.” The French use it as a term for “homeless”. In late 2011, Josh Erwin and Michael Paynter found themselves with a handful of new songs that didn’t have a home in The Packway Handle Band, the acclaimed bluegrass-based group from Athens, GA, that they co-founded. Using a cajon to loop live drum beats and alternately adding acoustic and electric guitar and mandolin, the band creates a sound that steps away from their bluegrass roots and finds itself wading firmly into Indie-Folks and Americana waters. With only Erwin and Paynter at the helm, the songs possess a sophisticated character with wide and transcendent appeal.
The songs on the duo’s first release, Shelter (November 2013, through Twin Cousins Records) often tackle the inevitable predicaments inherent in modern life. The songs range from dark to playful, entailing both sad and funny themes, and are performed with a professional and skilled musical sensibility that only comes with the years that Erwin and Paynter have spent playing music together. Erwin’s “The Scientist” asks the difficult question, “Are we someone’s experiment?” It combines satire with genuine curiosity that has puzzled mankind for millennia.
In “One Pill A Day,” a Paynter composition that progresses around a clutching mandolin riff that is doubled by the guitar, one is led to believe that perseverance lies in the form of the pharmaceutical-induced peace of mind of a haunted person that can’t ever reach homeostasis without crashing back to the ground. Paynter’s “Winds Me Up,” the more somber number that closes out the duo’s debut release, showcases Erwin’s deftness on electric guitar and the duo’s tight-knit vocal harmonies. Those who give Shelter a listen will surely be pleased that these songs have found a home and a fruitful place to grow and evolve.
Dusty Roads
Performing May 1, 2019 at Canoe
7:00 — 10:00PM
Dusty Roads is a high-energy Georgia-grown Americana band, formed by Atlanta based musician, John Mickelson. When you’re at a Dusty Roads show, expect to hear influences of the legends of country and bluegrass music, such as Merle Haggard, Flatt & Scruggs, Willie Nelson, Buck Owens, and Bill Monroe. You can also expect sprinklings of songs and sounds of the great writers and musicians from across the globe and halls of time, like Django Reinhardt, Duke Ellington, and Irving Berlin. “Come take a trip, down that long, dusty road”.
Comprised of some of the Southeast regions finest pickers and singers, the band is ever evolving and growing. “We’re all Georgia boys” says Mickelson of the band members, which features Jared Lanham on mandolin and tabla – the traditional Indian hand-drum. “Colt Bowen has one of the lightest touches of any drummer in town” says Mickelson of the Dusty Roads drummer. Fiddlin’ phenom Danny Bermel joined the group in late 2016, and adds an agile musical flare that pushes their musical crescendos to another level of fever-pitch. Dusty Roads is constantly searching for that sound, that lick, that twangy hook that sinks deep into the listener’s soul and pulls them into the unfolding story of each song. The group cherishes the purity of silvery strings ringing together harmoniously. The band champions comradery, respect for the craft of their instruments, and finely constructed songs that feel as if they soar down from the mountaintop to resonate the listener’s heart-strings.
“We came here with one purpose, to have a blast playing and performing live acoustic music”– says Mickelson, singer/songwriter for Dusty Roads. Growing up in Atlanta, he was surrounded by a diverse world of cultures and music his whole life. “My great-grandfather was a mandolin player from Germany, so I guess it just runs in the blood”, says Mickelson of his musical lineage. Like a rear-view mirror in a pick-up truck, Dusty Roads looks back through the history of written and recorded music, studying fervently to decipher just what made each of these classic songs so special and unique. Just like ‘looking backwards to go forwards’, Mickelson applies this approach to writing original material for the band.
During the Winter of 2017, Dusty Roads went into the studio to begin recording its debut self-titled album. The album will feature music inspired by life, love, and heartache. “Life is heavy, but music can make your bags a little lighter”
Smokey’s Farmland Band
Performing May 8, 2019 at Canoe
7:00 — 10:00PM
Smokey’s Farmland Band blends musical influences ranging from bluegrass to gypsy jazz to Cajun, creating a progressive sound they like to call “Goodtime Eclectic Bluegrass”. While they enjoy venturing outside the realm of the traditional, they still respect the roots of bluegrass, and retain the energy and twang of mountain music. A typical set features original tunes, good ol’ pickin numbers, and some unexpected covers too. It all comes together in an exciting genre-bending style that keeps listeners on their toes, and on the dance floor!
Among many accomplishments, SFB has opened for Willie Nelson at a sold out House Of Blues New Orleans, Sam Bush at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta, and recently shared the bill for Del Yeah! with The Del McCoury Band and others. They have also opened for the Emmitt-Nershi Band and The Freight Hoppers, and shared the stage with numerous Atlanta and touring bluegrass bands. The band has traveled to Colorado, DC, NYC, and even St. Croix for performances, winning new fans at stops along the way. Their music is dedicated to the festival experience, camping and dancing in community, out of the way places that retain their beauty, live performance, and people who appreciate getting back to the farm from time to time.
Smokey’s Farmland Band is :
Trey Gibbs – Vocals, Mandolin
Ian Newberry – Vocals, Guitar
Rurik Nunan – Vocals, Fiddle
Justin Roberts – Vocals, Upright Bass
Jared Womack – Resophonic Guitar
Brian Revels
Performing May 15, 2019 at Canoe
7:00 — 10:00PM
Brian Revels is probably most recognized as the brazen voice behind Atlanta, Georgia’s City Mouse, a bourbon-barreled version of a folk band with an ear for clever turns of phrase. If you’re a City Mouse fan, you would be forgiven for calling him a banjo player. But, long before the birth of this rowdy roots trio, he has been scribbling lyrics on scrap paper – restaurant order pads, receipts, check stubs – and picking a well-loved 6-string confidante.
At 16, Revels dusted off a neglected Silvertone Stratocaster that was begged off of his single mother and chopped his way through Johnny Cash’s rendition of the Nine Inch Nails song, “Hurt”. The effect was immediate and it anchored deep. A summer’s worth of work later earned him the Takamine that now has a hole in the front that would make Willie Nelson do a double-take.
As a budding musician, Revels gravitated to the agsty art of the era – Brand New, Taking Back Sunday, and, most influentially, Bright Eyes but soon after found his way to more timeless heroes in The Band, Bob Dylan, Townes Van Zandt and Woody Guthrie coaxed by his friends’ southern-born fathers. Growing up a few minutes away from the intimate music mecca that is Athens, Ga, live music became an increasingly prevalent part of life. He was soon immersed in the music local legends like Drive-By Truckers or Ponderosa. His music now boasts a compelling mix of such influences, taking mournful but witty stabs at reality in a tone reminiscent of Conor Oberst’s work or journeying through an outlaw’s murder ballad in a way the Patterson Hood might appreciate.
As a performer, he tends to reimagine his songs constantly. Not like the Dead, completely reforming or endlessly improvising, but delivering the words with an earnestness that is completely true in the moment and therefore never a re-enactment of something tirelessly rehearsed – whether or not it is.
“I swear it comes from somewhere else. I definitely catch myself forcing parts of it, but some of the inspiration I just can’t claim. As far as the show goes, it’s like trying to keep a bird in a cage that won’t latch. I try to stick to melodies, try to be still but it never seems come out as tame as I’d like. I guess that became part of the charm to some folks. I’ve learned to appreciate it.” Says Brian.
