Acoustic Long Island

Raised in the small upstate New York town of Monroe, folk rock singer/songwriter Brian Dunne’s music has won the attention and praise of many. With his sharp lyrical prowess and country-influenced vocals, Brian has played in the U.S. folk scene far and wide. Citing influences such as Bob Dylan, The Band, and Bruce Springsteen, one can hear his roots winding through the sound and style of his songwriting and performing. After graduating from the Berklee College of Music in 2011, Brian moved to New York City where he currently resides, and has spent much of the last year supporting his newest release, The Brooklyn Bridge EP, which charted on the US iTunes singer/songwriter charts and received praise from artists such as John Mayer amongst many others. For more, go to www.briandunnemusic.net.

Born and Raised in London, Ontario, Ken Yates moved to Boston to study songwriting at Berklee College of Music. It was there that he developed his skills as a songwriter, releasing his first CD, “The Backseat EP”, and received the opportunity to play a song for one of his biggest influences, John Mayer. Mayer even posted a full page blog about Yates’ ability as a writer stating, “Ken Yates wrote a song called ‘I Don’t Wanna Fall In Love’… this song moved me when I first heard it and still does today”. Yates’ EP received high critical acclaim, leading to a slew of online covers from fans. He has toured with many notable names including veteran singer/songwriter and mentor, Livingston Taylor, Sister Hazel, Peter Katz, and Liz Longley and has songs in heavy rotation on Sirius XM’s The Coffee House where he was nominated for The Coffee House Songwriter Discovery of the Year. For more, go to www.kenyates.com.

Dave opened our October concert with some “funny musical facts” then gave the stage to Long Island’s own Cassandra House. Cassandra’s music has been gaining more attention at local and regional venues and she has recently performed at such notable places as The Boulton Center, Vail-Leavitt Music Hall, The Bitter End and Rockwood Music Hall. Find out more about Cassandra at www.facebook.com/thecasshouse.

Kelli Rae Powell is the tiny ukulele-wielding, redheaded stepchild of Billie Holiday and Johnny Cash. Whether she’s growling out wry ruminations or purring her way through a drinkaby (a lullaby-meets-drinking song of her own device), she delivers the kind of consistently literate lyrics that once prompted Tommy Ramone to call her a poet. The Iowa-bred performer arrived in New York City in 2000, and after making a name for herself in the city’s underground ukulele cabaret scene, released 2006’s “The Scandalous Accounts of My Youth,” and 2009’s “New Words For Old Lullabies” (both on Firecracker Records). She has been listed as a “Rising Star: Folk” in iTunes Essentials, alongside Bon Iver, Joanna Newsom and The Weepies, and New York City’s Deli Magazine wrote that her talents place her at the “tip of the NYC ukulele solo singer songwriter movement.” Powell’s forthcoming CD, “Live At Jalopy,” produced by Terry Radigan and recorded at Jalopy Theatre and School of Music in Red Hook, Brooklyn, showcases a confident artist at the height of her game. For more, go to www.kelliraepowell.com.

Will Evans has spent the last decade as the primary song writer, and drummer/ front man of the roots rock outfit Barefoot Truth. Four full length albums and several EP’s were recorded with Barefoot Truth, including their latest release “Carry Us On” which debuted at #10 on the Itunes rock chart. Recently Barefoot Truth has decided to take an extended hiatus, which has led Will to a new chapter in his musical journey. Will’s solo project gives him an empty canvas to explore and create a new sound to share with anyone willing to lend an ear. Influences are drawn from a diverse selection of musical genres including hip hop, pop and folk rock artists such as John Butler, Lauren Hill, John Mayer, Bernhoft, and Ray Lamontagne to name a few. For more, go to www.willevans.com.

SEE is a singer/songwriter from New York. Having been heavily influenced by music throughout her childhood, SEE began to play the drums at age 13. In 2011 SEE took her music to the streets when she became the primary songwriter/drummer for a successful Alternative/Indie Rock band on Long Island. From 2011-2013, SEE acquired valuable skills in professional studio recording and video production. The band experience also provided SEE with a substantial amount of live performance opportunities including features on cable TV and FM radio broadcasts to playing live gigs in a variety of bars, colleges, and music venues throughout New York – including the legendary Bitter End in Greenwich Village, NYC. In early 2013 SEE first discovered her voice. Coupled with her strong song writing skills, it presented her with a fierce and undeniable skill set as a musician that ultimately gave birth to her solo career. SEE showcased her talents as vocalist, songwriter and solo performer, with the release of her original debut single/music video “Waiting For You” in October 2013. Recorded and mixed completely on her own, “Waiting For You” exhibits SEE’s ability to create music with a distinct calming atmosphere while still maintaining the format and memorability of a pop song. While simultaneously working on her original music, SEE has also been busy attracting fans to her unique style by releasing interpretations of popular songs from many of today’s most successful musicians. Now at age 19, SEE has released her debut EP, The Time Thief, on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, Google Play, and Youtube. Composed of all original songs, the EP is a personal and completely solo work that exhibits SEE’s extraordinary talents at composing memorable music and writing mindful lyrics while underscoring her remarkable and unique achievement at self producing in her home studio entirely on her own. For more, go to www.eyespysee.com.

Jesse Terry is an internationally touring, award-winning singer-songwriter whose transcendent life and music make him one of the most prolific indie artists today; his intimacy with audiences, sincerity, and approachability solidifying him as a favorite at nationwide live venues, festivals and concert series. With three full-length albums, The Runner, Empty Seat On A Plane, and Stay Here With Me, this salt of the earth musician’s lyrical mastery, emotional depth, and soothing voice have often been compared to the likes of Ryan Adams, Jackson Browne, Josh Ritter, and James Taylor, reaching deep into listeners’ hearts to envelope them in shared joy, sadness, love, and unrelenting hope. The Grand Prize winner of The John Lennon Songwriting Contest and The CMT/NSAI Song Contest, he has garnered worldwide acclaim including the elite honor of performing for US and NATO troops stationed at Thule Air Base in Greenland, and an official endorsement by Stonebridge Guitars International. His original sound continually galvanizes national and global exposure, including recent placements on the CW’s “Hart of Dixie,” Lufthansa Airlines, and PBS’ “Roadtrip Nation,” fueling the prospects of his future steadily ablaze, with long trails of accolades following in his wake. For more, go to www.jesseterrymusic.com.

In the short time since her graduation from Boston’s renowned Berklee College of Music, singer-songwriter Liz Longley has assembled an impressive resume. While best known for her stop-you-in-your-tracks voice, Liz has steadily developed a reputation as an accomplished songwriter, crafting intimately personal portraits through her music. In the past two years, Liz has taken home top prizes at some of the most prestigious songwriting competitions in the country, including the BMI John Lennon Songwriting Scholarship Competition, the International Acoustic Music Awards and the Rocky Mountain Folk Fest Songwriting Competition. New England named her the 2011 Female Performer of the Year, the Washington Post declared that Liz is “destined for a larger audience” and Dig Boston called her “a rising acoustic sensation.” Even John Mayer is a fan, calling her music “gorgeous, simply gorgeous.” Most recently, Liz’s music has taken center stage on a national level with numerous television placements and radio airplay. ABC’s critically acclaimed series NY Med featured Liz’s music throughout the first season, and the 2012 season finale of Lifetime’s Army Wives displayed her towering vocals in an epic grand finale song, “This Is Not the End.” Executives at SiriusXM caught wind of her captivating cover of Van Morrison’s hit “Moondance” and added it into regular rotation, along with her award-winning original song, “When You’ve Got Trouble.” After an impressive response from listeners, Liz was invited to perform live in the SiriusXM studios in New York City and was named one of their Coffee House Discoveries of 2011. For more, go to www.lizlongley.com.

With a quartet of distinct voices clustered around a single microphone, Darlingside effortlessly draw audiences into their lush, dynamic musical world. The band’s sound, characterized by classical strings, tight vocal arrangements, bluegrass and rock instrumentation, and smart lyricism, is the product of complete collaboration among the four close friends. The group has no frontman; instead, lead vocals are traded from moment to moment, and each song features a new combination of instruments and textures, pulling heavily from folk, retro-pop, barbershop, and chamber music.

Dave (bassist and former street musician), Don (guitarist, banjoist, and former boy alto), Auyon (classical violinist who studied mandolin in Ireland and Brazil) and Harris (classical cellist and guitarist) met and sang together as students at Williams College. Together, they are “a powerhouse of vocal, instrumental, and performing talent,” and their expansive sound is “aston­ish­ingly more con­gru­ent than the sum of its parts.”

Darlingside’s collaborative work with fellow Massachusetts-native Heather Maloney, which culminated in the 2014 Signature Sounds release “Woodstock,” garnered attention from both The New York Times and The Boston Globe. This summer, the band will step onto the national stage with appearances at High Sierra in Quincy, CA, Sisters Folk Festival in Sisters, OR, and Four Corners Folk in Pagosa Springs, CO.

For more, visit www.darlingside.com.

Heather Maloney, out in March on Signature Sounds, is the third album for a songwriter hailed by The Huffington Post for “lyrics that cut to the chase.” DigBoston wrote that she “deserves the type of cult following that has allowed the likes of Aimee Mann and Ani DiFranco that long standing success and influence they have had.” Although Maloney’s influences are largely rooted in what she calls “adventurous folk,” she pushes outward on these 11 songs, digging deeper, and roaming wider, than she has before on songs populated by vivid characters that ultimately trace their way back to her.

She uses juicy touches of pop, and a little dash of rock ’n’ roll on “Iron Bull,” a song she wrote after visiting Zucotti Park during, Occupy Wall Street.

“It’s become more multi-dimensional,” she says, a change she credits to the way she approached Heather Maloney. She mostly performed by herself in concert when she made her first two albums, so the recorded songs didn’t sound the way they did when she played them live. This time, she road-tested the new material with Ken Maiuri (Mark Mulcahy, the Young at Heart Chorus) on bass and J.J. O’Connell on drums, fine-tuning songs as she performed them in front of audiences before heading into the studio.

For more, visit www.heathermaloney.com