Fluff and Gravy Holiday Party

Anna Tivel

singer/songwriter

Anna Tivel's wide-eyed celestial folk songs belong in a similar ballpark with Anais Mitchell, Gregory Alan Isakov and Laura Veirs, where gentle picking plucks among occasionally unconventional sounds and a gorgeous voice tells stories of life in a world of natural wonders. The resulting music is incredibly honest, lyric-driven, and deeply affecting.

Website:

http://www.annativel.com/

Jeffrey Martin

While I was earning an English degree, Josh Ritter came to my college and put on a small solo concert. Watching Ritter on stage was like watching someone trying to make sense of their existence, in real time, with a guitar and words.  It seemed to be less of a performance and more of one man's necessity, which happened to be on public display that night.  I had written songs before then, but certainly all that followed became something else entirely.  I strive to find those songs, to write those songs, that exist in that perfect place perched between my own experience and the common experience that everyone can relate to.  This rarely happens (in fact, I don't even know if it's happened yet.)  I also think that I take myself much too seriously, and I have a lot to learn about writing songs that make people feel good; that make people want to shake around a little bit.

When I'm not playing music I substitute teach high school students.  People love to ask how I balance music and teaching, which one I'm more passionate about; would I leave teaching behind entirely to pursue music?  Does teaching influence my music?  I don't know the answer to any of these things.  I am passionate about music and I am passionate about teaching.  Some days I can't stand music, some days I can't stand teaching.  Both can feel like work, and both can leave me feeling like a crook for getting paid to do what I do.

I grew up a little bit in Texas, and then mostly in Oregon.  My parents read to me at night and took me to the library and flooded my ears with music that meant something.  My mom made me learn the cello at a young age.  My dad took me to see John Gorka and Leo Kotke.  I have a dog, a yellow lab named Ben, who has toured more than 10,000 miles with me over the past few years (human miles.)  I play an old 1970′s Takamine gifted to me by my uncle.

-Jeffrey Martin has released two albums.  Gold in the Water (2009) and Build A Home EP (2012.)  In 2011 he was invited to the Sisters Folk Festival as an emerging artist, and then returned in 2012 as an officially showcased artist.  In fall of 2012 Jeffrey was a finalist in the Mountain Stage / New Song contest in New York City.  And he has earned songwriting mentions in American Songwriter Magazine, as well as the 2009 Kerrville Folk Fest songwriter contest.  

Website:

http://jeffreymartinmusic.com/

Catherine Feeny

singer-songwriter

Catherine Feeny grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, part of a tight-knit family for whom music was a uniting force. Absorbing Springsteen through her older brother, Simon and Garfunkel through her parents and The Smiths through her elder sister, she early on developed a keen ear for songwriting.

Feeny received classical training in voice at the Settlement School of Music and began learning to play the guitar as a young teen. Idolizing the likes of Sinead O'Connor and the Indigo Girls, she joined several bands and began writing her own songs.

After graduating from George Washington University with a degree in Liberal Arts, Feeny moved to Los Angeles. An acting class at the Beverly Hills Playhouse rekindled her ambition to write and sing songs, and she started playing open mics, making connections with talented up-and-coming songwriters Joe Purdy, Brian Wright and Alexi Murdoch, among others. Feeny made regular appearances at the Hotel Café, a club known for nurturing artists such as Gary Jules and Greg Laswell.

Joe Purdy recorded her first album, a self-titled affair that garnered acclaim for its compelling songwriting and sparse, melancholic mood. The album won Feeny an audience in Belgium where it was championed by French language radio station Classic 21.

Feeny's second album, "Hurricane Glass" was produced by Sebastian Rogers, an English producer/artist she met at the Hotel Café. The song "Mr. Blue," an earlier version of which had been included on her first album, was picked up by KCRW in LA, and later featured in "Running with Scissors," "The O.C.," and "Miss Conception." It also ended up on the A-list at Britain's most popular radio station, Radio 2.

Released initially on an independent called Tallgrass, "Hurricane Glass" was upstreamed to EMI on the eve of the company's takeover by private equity firm Terra Firma, and Feeny was dropped before completing her second album for the label.

Feeny and Rogers, whose working relationship had blossomed into love, moved to Portland, Oregon in 2008 and were married soon after. They toured together extensively, both in support of Feeny's third album ("People in the Hole"), and as a band called Come Gather Round Us. The couple's 2008 12,000 mile Living Room Tour is the subject of the documentary "Remember Where You Are" which premiered at the Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles in January 2013.

Inspired by her experience at the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York City, Feeny crafted a subtle, moving work titled, "America" that was released in 2012. The album's first single "United" - a pulsing, revolutionary anthem - caught the attention of writer/activist Eve Ensler (The Vagina Monologues), who commissioned Feeny to compose a song for her organization One Billion Rising.

Feeny has played internationally as a headline act and in support of: Wilco, Belle and Sebastian, Suzanne Vega, John Prine, The Indigo Girls, Kelly Jones (Stereophonics) and Martha Wainwright. She is currently booking dates for Summer 2013

Website:

http://www.catherinefeeny.com/

Vacilando

Bummercore

"In Spanish there is a word for which I can't find a counterword in English. It is the verb vacilar, present participle vacilando. It does not mean vacillating at all. If one is vacilando, he is going somewhere, but does not greatly care whether or not he gets there, although he has direction." - John Steinbeck, from Travels With Charley: In Search of America, 1962

When Vacilando began as a vehicle for the solo work of John Shepski, the idea was simple... create an environment where the song could live and breathe in a space of it's own, expanding and contracting as it's surroundings (the room, the audience, the mood) dictated. The songs would incorporate ambient sounds and voices from the world around us, but they would also clearly be "songwriter" songs at heart. They would be loosely structured, but structured just the same. Ideally the songs would be performed by a rotating cast of friends and musicians, with the core of the band changing to suit the venue/mood/environment. That concept proved to be short lived. When Juniana Lanning (ambient soundscapes, percussion, vocals) and Chad Lanning (bass, bass synth) joined Shepski for a rehearsal at Fluff and Gravy Studios it was clear that the core of this band needed to be these three musicians. Born of 90's College Radio and Indie Rock, John's songs immediately took on new life when they met Juniana's ambient/experimental leanings and Chad's classic sensibilities. Joined by Jason Montgomery (pedal steel) and featuring Sharon Cannon (violin), the band is set to release their debut album, While They Were Dancing (Fluff and Gravy Records), on July 17, 2015.

At it's heart, While They Were Dancing is slow and atmospheric, breathing deeply with vast empty spaces underneath heart-in-hand lyrics and a humble delivery. The band is fond of describing their record alternately as Bummercore or Bleak Midwestern Soundscapes, but just when the listener is drawn in and seemingly transported to another time and place, the band brings them crashing back to earth in a sonic explosion of screaming guitars and feedback. The music feels at once nostalgic and timeless, all while remaining grounded in the present.

In the end, Steinbeck's description may sum the band up perfectly. In Vacilando's world, the songs are indeed going somewhere, but they seem to be in no hurry to get there. Sometimes it's enough to simply enjoy the ride.

Website:

http://www.fluffandgravy.com/artists/vacilando/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vacilando