Frank Barter

Rock n Roll/Americana Singer/S

Frank Barter broke on the Seattle scene before it was a scene and stormed around the Northwest. He's been compared to great singer-songwriters like Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seger and Jackson Browne in reviews and by listeners.  Frank undoubtedly is humbled by those comparisons. "Having my name lumped into with those guys is terrific, and I certainly appreciate it, I haven't had their fame and fortune yet, but to walk around knowing some folks have been touched by what I try to do on that kind of level, is pretty special."He has toured the west coast and Pacific Northwest extensively and opened for Chuck Berry, John Haitt, Bonnie Raitt, Leon Russell, Johnny Copeland, Curtis Selgado, and Duffy Bishop to name a few.

He writes, sings, and performs like a guy who's been beat up and still won't quit, like a guy who's been dumped but still has hope for a happy ending. Many of the songs on his Valley Entertainment release "Ready" feature gravel and silk, triumph and longing, and celebration and regret. Produced by Grammy Award winning Producer, Scott Mathews, Frank doesn't hold back for anyone or anything. New York Times Best selling music writer Charles R. Cross once described Frank Barter songs as "Expansive as an Eastern Oregon Sunset." If you've never seen one of those, they're burning in the middle, sitting on top of a wheat field, with a golden glow on each side stretching the horizon forever. That's where Frank Barter takes you. 

"I tend to write my songs from a visual place. Almost theatrically. I get a set in my head and then try and create a story or a character in that setting. I am not sure why that works best other than I have some theater chops from the past. Not all the time though. Sometimes I'll hear about something so moving and if it really touches me, it kind of writes itself." 

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https://frankbarter.com/home

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Sam Fowles

70's folk

Learning to play on a guitar he borrowed from his uncle, Sam Fowles never really looked back. "I'd spend all my time down in the basement playing guitar," he recalls. "As soon as I got home from school until dinner. It was the one thing I'd get so lost in- time melted away."
Naturally he formed a handful of bands over the course of his school days, and continued into college, there forming The Parson Red Heads with Evan Way and friends. "I was 19 when we formed the band. Shortly after we did we just got knocked out by the 60's and 70's. Neil Young, George Harrison, The Byrds. Other people around us loved the stuff too, but we kind of fixated on those decades exclusively. Prince didn't speak to us- Big Star did!"
After more than ten years together as a band, touring the US, Spain and beyond, Sam felt the need to step out on his own musically and bring to fruition a brand of music he'd been gestating for years. He chose a project name that had mysteriously drawn him towards itself- House of Angels- and set about making an album that incorporated many of his most enduring influences- Midlake, CSNY, Vetiver and Jonathan Wilson, to name a few. He literally drew a map of his plans for musical style and mood. "It was a challenge to myself," Fowles says. "Could I make a song of my own that had a vibe similar to the one you hear in 'Cinnamon Girl'? And the other challenge was to write, record and perform it mostly on my own because I had never done that before in the 15 years I'd been making records. I'm really proud of the results."
Era Ephemera is out now on Parson Farm Records.

Website:

https://www.houseofangelsmusic.com

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/houseofangelsmusic

Michael Howard

Alt-Folk

At first glance, the word association of "Alaska" and "punk rock" might seem like something out of a cunning psychological method, but for singer-songwriter Michael Howard, they represent elemental forces that have helped form his creative voice. "I grew up playing in punk bands around Anchorage, putting on shows at rec centers and such," he says. In many ways, he fits in among a generation of ex-punk rockers and now happens to be a songwriter. As such, Howard is, in a way, an outsider. Born and raised amid the long winter nights and extended summer days of the Last Frontier, Howard knows what it is to be removed, living on the edge of civilization. Being formed as an adolescent by punk's do-it-yourself ethic, he is an explorer and an inventor, creatively speaking. After many dark Alaskan winters touring the rest of the State and long Arctic summers as a community organizer and activist, Michael Howard's unique perspective has come to fruition in his latest album, GASOLINE DREAM, a collection of poetic Americana born from life on the road.

Recorded at San Francisco's Tiny Telephone Studios, the album was produced and engineered by Jacob Winik (Magnetic Fields, John Vanderslice). In keeping with Howard's DIY punk roots, many of the songs, such as "Hog Butcher, Hog Butcher," and the title track, were recorded entirely live. Though a largely stripped-down recording, Howard brought in friend and part-time co-writer Kevin Worrell (upright bass, piano, pump organ) and Andrew Maguire (percussion) for other instrumentation.The songs on Gasoline Dream share a certain unvarnished, prophetic story-song quality with those of early Bob Dylan. Where the songwriting on Howard's previous album, The Martyr & The Magician, was more ethereal and spiritual, here it is more poetic and concrete. "These are a lot of stories inspired by being on the road," says Howard. "There's a touch of the personal along with the universal. It's more of a coherent collection of songs addressing community and global issues, references to veterans of the Afghanistan war and the Arab Spring, for instance."Like many prophets and dream interpreters of history, Michael Howard originates and speaks from the edge of society.

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Website:

http://www.mhowardmusic.com