Fionn Regan

Website: http://www.myspace.com/fionnregan

Fionn Regan is a singer-songwriter hailing from Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland. Regan was nominated for two Meteor Music Awards (Best Male and Best Newcomer) in 2006 and his album The End of History was nominated for Irish Album of the Year at the Choice Music Prize and was shortlisted for the 2007 Mercury Music Prize.

His song "Be Good Or Be Gone" has been featured in shows such as Grey's Anatomy, though not quite in the form below.



I love how each environment he is in has its own unique acoustic properties, that lend to such an interesting video despite it being a low-budget, lo-fi offering.

Zee Avi

Official Website: http://www.zeeavi.com/home/

So if you've been reading this blog at all, you've probably seen a trend...a lot of the music I now enjoy I discovered while driving through Alabama on my way to Georgia.

Zee Avi was another of the artists I got to enjoy hearing for the first time last April. At the time I was hearing her song "Bitter Heart" (which is a great song, though not my favorite of hers).

Zee Avi is a Malaysian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and ukulele player. She was born in Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia. She moved to Kuala Lumpur when she was 12 and later went on to study fashion design at American InterContinental University in London. In September 2007 Avi posted a video of her first song on YouTube for one of her friends who had missed her first performance in Kuala Lumpur. That posting got her discovered and she is now on the artist roster for Jack Johnson's label, Brushfire Records.

Here is a video of one of my favorite songs of her's, "Monte", brought to you courtesy of the site that helped give her her start...

Mumford & Sons

Official Website: http://www.mumfordandsons.com/

I first heard of this band April of last year while on a trip through Alabama (RIP Live 100.5, you will be missed). Fantastic folk sounds from the UK.

Here's the video from the first song of theirs I heard..."The Cave". Enjoy!

Radio Show: Folk Salad

Official Website: http://www.folksalad.com

Folk Salad Hosts Richard Higgs and Scott Aycock (an artist in his own right, a singer/songwriter and father of Jesse Aycock) play an eclectic mix of Folk, Singer/songwriter, Americana, Bluegrass, Blues, Red Dirt, and anything else they happen to like that week. They also air interviews and in-studio performances by local and nationally known performers.

Folk Salad airs each Sunday at 7:00 pm on KWGS, 89.5 FM, Tulsa's Public Radio Station. Folk Salad airs each Saturday at 8:00 pm on KOSU, 91.7FM (Stillwater) and 107.5 FM (Bartlesville) Radio Stations.

Ashton Allen

Official Website: http://www.ashtonallen.net/

So as I've started off a good portion of my posts thus far, here's another artist I came across through Pandora which blessed me with hearing the title track to his 2005 release, "Dewdrops". Ashton Allen is a singer/songwriter from Mt. Dora, Florida. His music combines his vocals that are sometimes reminiscent of Elliott Smith (or perhaps a slightly more upbeat Iron and Wine depending on the song) with his guitar (or sometimes piano and a handful of other instruments) for well written songs.



Allen is also the Executive Creative Director for Rock Salt Songwriters, which as he states on the website "is a dedicated music production team that does national, regional, and local work all from an undisclosed location in beautiful downtown Mt. Dora, Florida. Services include writing, producing, and mixing custom designed music, scoring for film and television, and music catalog services." Check out the sample video on their page to see a number of projects that he's had a hand in. The man's got talent!

Ashton also has a side project called Rabbit!, that tends to be more ultra-happy friendly pop music (think Jack Johnson's Curious George soundtrack meets Owl City).

Joe Purdy

Official Website: http://joepurdy.com/

So I'd heard of Joe Purdy a few years back when his song, "The City", was featured on the Grey's Anatomy First Season Soundtrack. I liked the song, but at the time wasn't really into his style of music.

Well fast forward to now, I enjoy his style...and lucky for me (and you too because I'm a nice guy and like to share), he is offering a FREE download of his new album This American directly from his website.

So head on over, check out his music and enjoy a free download.

Website: Acoustic Oklahoma

I happened across this Facebook profile a few months back and "liked" it. The site has been delivering videos of a large variety of Oklahoma's talented singer/songwriters since sometime around September 29th of this year (as that is as far back as I can go on their wall).

If you aren't on Facebook or can't access the page, the videos are also archived to the owner's YouTube channel here.

Carolina Chocolate Drops

Official Website: http://www.carolinachocolatedrops.com

I first heard of the Carolina Chocolate Drops in an interview on NPR's show Fresh Air.

The band members (Dom Flemons, Rhiannon Giddens, and Justin Robinson) are all multi-instrumentalists and trade leads both on instruments and vocals.

Rhiannon's vocal talents come from a wide array of influences: from her training in opera, to her work with her sister in a Celtic band, and various folk and Appalachian music influences. Check out this sample of her vocal talents as she knocks it out of the park (a cappella even)...

The band's website features a nicely written history of the band and Black String Band history.

Here's a nice short piece on the band from a TV station in Michigan...

And last but not least, here's a video of their remake of Blu Cantrell's "Hit 'Em Up Style" complete with Justin knocking out a great beatbox set...

The Avett Brothers

Official Site: http://www.theavettbrothers.com

So one of the first bands I came across on my recent musical journey was these guys, The Avett Brothers. I was travelling to a wedding of a friend in Georgia and while passing through Alabama I picked up a radio station out of Birmingham that played a variety of good music and I heard the Avett's song, "Murder in the City". It connected with me, simple instrumentation, simple delivery, powerful lyrics: they had depth, they had meaning, they were moving. Check out the video below and see if you don't agree.

Since my return home from that trip, I researched their music, purchased "The Second Gleam" at a local music store (Guestroom Records) and have been hooked on their music ever since. They've been through the Oklahoma City area twice this year. I have seen them live at the Rose State Performing Arts Center and at the Coca-Cola Bricktown Events Center. Both shows were great. They bring a great energy to the stage and make every show an experience well worth the money.

Each member of the group, the brothers Scott and Seth Avett, bassist Bob Crawford, and cellist Joe Kwon each have such talent.

Seth has a solo side project he records as Timothy Seth Avett as Darling. Below is the first of his solo songs I discovered. Some of his solo songs have been brought into the Avett Brothers catalog and will sometimes come out during their live shows which is always a treat.

Scott Avett is an accomplished artist. He has done a lot of the art that either adorns the covers of their albums or is tucked into the inserts. His work can be viewed here.

Bassist Bob Crawford has 2 side projects he's worked on outside of his time recording and touring with the Avetts. The first was New Jersey Transient and his latest is Overmountain Men.

And last, but not least, cellist Joseph Kwon edits a blog to entertain both your visual and culinary senses called Taste on Tour. Reading his blog really makes me want to head out to North Carolina very soon and take in the sights and tastes (as well as the awesome music) of the area.

Jeff Hanson

Non-official Reference Site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Hanson

Jeff Hanson is another of my finds from Pandora. His vocal range is so high the first time I heard it I had the window minimized and thought I was listening to an obscure Sixpence None The Richer recording. Regardless of the initial shock in finding out this was a male voice I was listening to, I enjoyed the song and so I did more research and discovered through the above referenced website that the music available by him has been limited by his death in 2009...sadly his album "Madam Owl", was his last.

Below is the first song of his I heard (which remains my favorite...unfortunately there's no video to this, just the audio, but it's worth a listen regardless)...

Chatham County Line

Official Website: http://www.chathamcountyline.com/

My lovely Pandora station discovered this band for me about 4 months ago and I've been hooked ever since. I think at this point I have every CD of theirs on my Amazon wishlist.

If anyone would like to give me a really awesome Christmas present or an early birthday present...a trip to North Carolina to see these guys would be fine.

Enjoy!

Fleet Foxes

Official Website: http://www.fleetfoxes.com

If there were one band that I haven't seen in concert yet that I'd go out of my way to see, it'd be these guys. I love the way they use harmonies and the acoustics of the room they are in to blend a seemingly "baroque" vocal sound with elements of folk, indie rock, and even some "Old World" sounds.

The video below is of the first song of theirs I discovered:

Fleet Foxes - He Doesn't Know Why from Sean Pecknold on Vimeo.

Samantha Crain

Official Website: http://www.samanthacrain.com

I have been lucky enough to see Samantha Crain twice this year: earlier in the year in a show with John Fullbright, and this past weekend with Jesse Aycock. I'm still not sure which of the 2 I think was the better of the 2 shows, they were both great.

The earlier show was a nice, stripped down show, just Samantha and her guitar. Last week's show featured Crain, accompanied by a fiddler (I'll post his name if I can get it) which on most songs gave them a freshness that I enjoyed...there was really only one song that I wished had just been Samantha and her guitar, "We Are The Same"; that song is so good stripped down and the fiddle unfortunately overpowered her vocals in spots. It was also great hearing Samantha duet with Jesse on his tune, "Burned Out", they sounded great together on that one...wish I had a recording of it so I could hear it again.

I also had the pleasure of getting to talk to Samantha for a few minutes after the show while she was signing autographs. She's very down to earth, this also comes out in her stage banter and makes for an enjoyable show even between songs.

Here's one of my favorites that I've got to hear twice...

John Fullbright

Official Website: http://www.johnfullbrightmusic.com/

I was lucky enough to catch John Fullbright earlier this year in a great show with another of my favorite musicians, Samantha Crain, and I've been a fan ever since.

John will be performing this Friday at the Blue Door, get out and catch him if you can (sadly I'll be missing this one). While you are there you can also pick up a copy of his CD recorded live at the Blue Door.

Here's a sample of what you might expect if you make one of his shows...

Langhorne Slim

Official Website: http://www.langhorneslim.com/

I love this video. I discovered Langhorne Slim a year or so ago while looking through the artists lined up for South By Southwest and downloaded this track for free off of their site (sorry folks, I tried to relocate it, but they've changed their site up). Anyhow, here's the video for your viewing pleasure...

Langhorne Slim - "Restless" from Matthew Achterberg on Vimeo.

Purpose

So since I'm just getting this blog up and going, I thought I'd outline the direction I'm going to attempt to go with this.

Basically, my aim is to share information and opinion on music that would fall under the general heading of "string music"...this could be folk (or various "sub-genres" such as alternative folk, alternative country, acoustic, singer/songwriter, bluegrass, Americana, etc etc etc), indie rock, or whatever else I like that happens to fall into that ballpark. My aim is to present a variety of content ranging from links to artists websites, videos, free legal music downloads I've come across, and with a little luck maybe some interviews. I will also likely be listing upcoming concerts around the Oklahoma City area (and other parts of the state as well).

I'm sure over the course of time, parts of the above mission will change, but right now there's the goal.