Friday, February 25, 2011

Josh Rouse

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

Josh Rouse is a singer-songwriter born in the small town of Paxton, Nebraska. His father was in the military, which meant Josh moved to a number of places throughout the Midwest. Rouse attended Austin Peay State University, and following his time there, he eventually settled down in Tennessee, where he met some locals and began recording.

His first recordings were put to tape and eventually became his debut release, Dressed Up Like Nebraska. The release garnered critical acclaim and allowed him to be able to tour and perform full time. He has released 15 albums up to this point. His music has been featured on a variety of television shows and movie soundtracks.

His latest album, El Turista, is said to be a perfect fit with Getz/Gilberto and Paul Simon's "Graceland" if one would be so inclined to shuffle them together. Below is a free download of one of his EPs. Enjoy!










Website: Covered In Folk

Website: http://coverlaydown.com/

I came across this website about a week ago while looking for other information on a band I'll be posting on later and have been checking it out periodically. The site as the title suggests covers covers (yes that was intentional) of songs from all genres of music remade in a "folk" style. Pretty good stuff, check it out.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Jack Johnson

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

To write about (primarily) acoustic music and not mention Jack Johnson would be a gross oversight and since I've written about 2 artists that are on his label, I figured it was about time to introduce him to those that haven't heard of him.

Jack Johnson is a singer-songwriter, surfer and musician. He was born and raised on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii. He is the son of well-known surfer Jeff Johnson. Jack took an interest in surfing at an early age and at 17, became the youngest invitee to make the surfing finals at the Pipeline Masters on Oahu's north shore. Unfortunately, one week later, his stint as a professional surfer was ended when he suffered a surfing accident at the Pipeline that put over 150 stitches in his forehead and knocked a few of his teeth out.

He is a key organizer in the Kōkua Festival. He currently has sold 8 million albums worldwide.

His highest–selling album is Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies for the Film Curious George, with 4 million albums shipped worldwide, due to the success of the 2006 film.

He attended the University of California, Santa Barbara, and graduated with a degree in film. While in college, he developed his passion for music, and played rhythm guitar for a local party band.

Johnson's professional career began after befriending G. Love while surfing.

Johnson then co-directed Thicker Than Water, a surf documentary that was released in 2000, for which he also composed the soundtrack.

Here's a couple of Johnson's videos, starting with my kids' favorite, "Upside Down" and a live version of "Better Together".