Tommy Prine

Tommy Prine's debut album "This Far South'' coming June 23, 2023 is not only a long awaited introduction but a testimony to Prine's 20's and the loss, love, and growth that has defined them. Co-produced by close friend and kindred musical spirit, Ruston Kelly, and beloved Nashville engineer and producer, Gena Johnson, the album is rich and dynamic from cathartic jams to nostalgic storytelling.

The son of late songwriting legend, John Prine, Tommy Prine grew up in Nashville surrounded by music, art and writing. As a child, he thought all parents were musicians, as his father "going to work" meant performing shows for adoring fans and writing songs. Tommy learned to play guitar by watching his father play, copying the ways his fingers moved and inadvertently developing his own singular style. Summers in Ireland lent their own inspiration, as did 10 straight years camping at Bonnaroo. Prine's musical tastes grew to become decidedly eclectic, spanning John Mayer, Outkast, Bon Iver, the Strokes and more.

It wasn't until Prine reached his mid-twenties, though, that he considered a career of his own in music and began to share with others the songs he wrote in private. His songs were quickly met with excitement and enthusiasm, which sonically brings together a colorful patchwork of musical influences and lyrically explores existential questions and emotional experiences.

The album's title track, "This Far South,'' marks a turning point in Prine's life as he found himself struggling to escape a dark, aimless period. He ultimately found the courage to act on choices that would see him to the other, brighter, side.

Jason Wilber

As John Prine's lead guitarist and musical director for 24 years, Jason Wilber gained a unique perspective on music and life. He worked closely with Mr Prine on stage and in the studio, collaborating on some truly timeless performances and recordings. Jason's own albums and performances feature humorous stories from his Prine years, contrasted with touching and insightful reflections on life's mysteries. On his most recent album Time Traveler, he explores how we will maintain our humanity in the face of our ever expanding technologies. Jason Wilber has been named an “Artist You Need To Know” by Rolling Stone.

Kiely Connell

Kiely Connell is a Nashville, Tennessee transplant with rustbelt roots. Hailing from Hammond, Indiana just four houses down from the Illinois state line, Kiely draws inspiration from the hardworking people of her native Midwest community. As one of her peers put it: "Kiely's songs walk a tightrope, planting each step equally with both the grace at the heart of folk music, and the steadfast confidence of an experienced rock and roll soul." Kiely's powerful four-octave range will take you on a journey that transcends the ordinary.

In a time when most country and Americana artists are forging a similar path, Kiely takes fans on a different journey to unknown places — sonically, and emotionally. She writes songs that have a gothic country aesthetic- a blend of somber poetry and western melodies delivered with her rich and brooding voice. Her voice merges gritty blues with an ethereal upper register, leaving audiences comparing her to the likes of Patsy Cline, Joan Baez, and Joni Mitchell. Kiely's incomparable voice, and her poetic storytelling truly make her an Americana artist to watch.

"Kiely Connell may be a newcomer now, but based on this striking recording, she won't be for long." – Holler

"Kiely Connell and Calumet Queen constitute a remarkable and auspicious debut that you can see initiating a strong musical legacy as it unfolds into the future." – Saving Country Music

James McMurtry

In James McMurtry’s new effort, The Horses and the Hounds, the acclaimed songwriter backs personal narratives with effortless elegance (“Canola Fields”) and endless energy (“If It Don’t Bleed”). This first collection in seven years, out August 20, 2021 on New West Records, spotlights a seasoned tunesmith in peak form as he turns toward reflection (“Vaquero”) and revelation ( closer “Blackberry Winter”). Familiar foundations guide the journey. “There’s a definite Los Angeles vibe to this record,” McMurtry says. “The ghost of Warren Zevon seems to be stomping around among the guitar tracks. Don’t know how he got in there. He never signed on for work for hire.”

The Horses and the Hounds is a reunion of sorts. McMurtry recorded the new album with legendary producer Ross Hogarth (John Fogerty, Van Halen, Keb’ Mo’) at Jackson Browne’s Groovemaster’s in Santa Monica, California, a world class studio that has housed such legends as Bob Dylan (2012’s Tempest) and David Crosby (2016’s Lighthouse) as well as Browne himself for I’m Alive (1993) and New Found Glory, Coming Home (2006). McMurtry and Hogarth first worked together 30 years ago, when Hogarth was a recording engineer in the employ of John Mellencamp at Mellencamp’s own Belmont Studios near Bloomington, Indiana. Hogarth recorded McMurtry’s first two albums, Too Long in the Wasteland and Candyland, for Columbia Records and later mixed McMurtry’s first self-produced album, Saint Mary of the Woods, for Sugar Hill Records. Another veteran of those three releases, guitarist David Grissom (Joe Ely, John Mellencamp, Dixie Chicks), returns with some of his finest work.

One for the Foxes & Aoife Scott

Dave Curley, Tadhg Ó Meachair & Joanna Hyde form an exciting and dynamic transatlantic trio that presents a rousing blend of Irish and American folk music, having already won over audiences on both sides of the ocean. The group is made up of Dublin's Tadhg Ó Meachair (Goitse), Galway's Dave Curley (SLIDE) and Denver, Colorado's Joanna Hyde (The Hydes), and features a mix of Irish and American folk music and song – both traditional and newly- composed – presented in an energetic and engaging manner. Their performances strike a tasteful balance between the stories found in ballads across both sides of the Atlantic and the respective instrumental music traditions of these places.

Aoife Scott is an acclaimed folk singer and songwriter hailing from Dublin, Ireland. With her soulful vocals and evocative storytelling, she has captured the hearts of audiences around the world. Born into a renowned musical family, Aoife's upbringing immersed her in the rich traditions of Irish music. She seamlessly blends elements of folk, traditional, and contemporary styles to create a sound that is uniquely her own. Her music is a heartfelt reflection of her experiences, exploring themes of love, resilience, and social justice. Aoife's passion for her craft and her dedication to authenticity have earned her critical acclaim and a loyal following. With each performance, she mesmerizes listeners with her raw talent and emotional depth, solidifying her place as a rising star in the folk music scene.

Over the Rhine

Over the Rhine's 15th studio album marks the duo's 30th continuous year of writing, recording and touring together. In that time, singersongwriters/ multi-instrumentalists Karin Bergquist and Linford Detweiler (who've been married for 22 years) have built a vivid, emotionally-charged body of work that has won them a deeply devoted following and critical acclaim. Like its predecessors, Love & Revelation showcases the pair's timeless songcraft and understated yet soulful delivery. Those qualities are prominent on such memorable new songs as "Los Lunas," "Let You Down," "Broken Angels" and "Making Pictures," whose insistent melodies and striking lyrical imagery haunt the listener long after the music fades.

The Steeldrivers

What began as a casual jam session over a decade ago has become one of today’s leaders in the Americana/Bluegrass music world. The venerable Rounder Records immediately signed the band and released their eponymous debut in 2008 that scored their first GRAMMY nomination for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group w/ Vocal for the song Blue Side Of The Mountain. Again in 2010, the group’s sophomore effort “Reckless”, received two more nods for Best Bluegrass Album and Best Country Performance by a Duo of Group with Vocal, courtesy of the universally popular hit Where Rainbows Never Die. The group’s star continued to rise with the release “Hammer Down” that debuted at #1 on the Billboard Bluegrass Charts. Their accomplishments continued with the highly anticipated 2015 “The Muscle ShoalsRecordings” that also won a GRAMMY for Best Bluegrass Album, as well as three IBMA nominations forAlbum, Song, Songwriter (Tammy Rogers) and Liner Notes (Peter Cooper) of the Year honors. In 2018 the group made Grand Ole Opry history as the quintet was joined by superstars John Prine and Bill Murray on the revered stage to perform. Other accolades include a cameo in the Murray flick “Get Low,” music placement in various TV and movies including the popular drama “Yellowstone,” and specially recordings with the military group Six String Soldiers. In 2020, Tammy Rogers, Michael Fleming, Richard Bailey, Brent Truitt and Kelvin Damrell (his first project as lead vocals) released the chart-topping “Bad For You” to both industry and media aplomb.2021 brought the latest member on board, lead singer Matt Dame. The quintet tours an average of 75 dates annually while continuing to bring world-class music to people.

KADE PUCKETT

Spontaneous, magical, and honest, Kade Puckett's live performance is both engaging and entertaining. He is the 2013 Indiana State Fingerstyle Guitar champ, his song 'Timmy Jo' was chosen as the theme song for WTIU's (PBS) show The Weekly Special, and in high school he helped build the world's largest guitar -- which was later purchased by Dick Clark. Puckett, also an award-winning songwriter, performs all genres of music and can be seen in a variety of venues across the United States. 

Bloomingrass Festival feat. Väsen, Hawktail, Michael Cleveland & The Foreign Landers

BloominGrass is a new mini music festival taking place at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater for one night only, featuring some of the most exciting music in contemporary folk and bluegrass. For its debut this year, Bloomingrass will headline Bloomington favorites Väsen and Hawktail, introduce The Foreign Landers, and feature a special guest the world of bluegrass knows and loves to be announced soon.

Hawktail is the instrumental acoustic group comprised of fiddler Brittany Haas (Crooked Still, Dave Rawlings Machine), bassist Paul Kowert (Punch Brothers, Dave Rawlings Machine), and guitarist Jordan Tice. Though at first glance Hawktail looks like a superpicker side-project, their all-original music is cohesive and unique, distinguishing them as an ensemble with a sound built from the ground up. Flush with orchestral sweeps and sparse vigils, with strains of the American South and the North Atlantic, this cosmopolitan sound is not what you’d expect from a string band.

Väsen hails from Uppsala, Sweden and is a perennial favorite at the Lotus World Music Festival, leading Bloomington to name a street after the group and the band to name an album after the street: Väsen Street. Olov Johansson (nyckelharpa) and Mikael Marin (viola) will perform on this tour as a duo and together in collaboration with Hawktail for a set not to be missed.

With his sixth solo studio release, LOVIN’ OF THE GAME, veteran fiddle virtuoso Michael Cleveland seizes his opportunity at this one wonderful life and swings for the rafters. The album positively hums with energy. Not beholden to one specific genre or pigeonholed label, it showcases Cleveland’s inclusive musical nature—placing value in the process over the output. It is in this release of control that we find something truly sublime: the sound of artists working together in the act of creation without regard for any preconceived notion of what “should” be. The sound of genuine musicianship.

John Raymond x S. Carey

John Raymond and S. Carey have been playing music together for close to twenty years since their time studying music at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. While they both received training in jazz and classical music, their careers would soon head in very different directions. Carey would become the right-hand man to Justin Vernon (aka Bon Iver); collaborate as a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and producer with the likes of Sufjan Stevens, Low, and Bruce Hornsby among others; and release four albums of his own to critical acclaim from Pitchfork, NPR, and more. Raymond, on the other hand, would become a Grammy-nominated trumpeter and composer “steering jazz in the right direction” (Downbeat); release eight albums garnering praise from the New York Times, Stereogum, and others; and teach on faculty at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, one of the most prestigious music conservatories in the world.

In 2019, the two reunited and began experimenting on what their artistic voices would sound like together. Raymond brought in a host of musical ideas, while Carey contributed lyrics and helped shape the ideas into songs. Producer Sun Chung (formerly with ECM Records) came on board shortly after, and together they enlisted a cast of A-list musicians to help flesh out the music including pianist Aaron Parks (Terri Lyne Carrington, Terence Blanchard), bassist Chris Morrissey (Norah Jones, Mark Guiliana), and guitarist Dave Devine (Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band).

The result is their new album, Shadowlands (out September 29), a stunning, genre-bending collection of songs that combines the warmth and beauty of Carey’s aesthetic with the improvisational, spontaneous nature of Raymond’s. The music ranges from intimate and meditative to soaring and anthemic, with electric moments of musical interplay throughout. It’s the kind of collaboration that feels as if it were years in the making.

ROSS GAY

Ross Gay is the author of four books of poetry: Against Which; Bringing the Shovel Down; Be Holding, winner of the PEN American Literary Jean Stein Award; and Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, winner of the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award and the 2016 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. His first collection of essays, The Book of Delights, was released in 2019 and was a New York Times bestseller. His new collection of essays, Inciting Joy, was released by Algonquin in October of 2022.

CARRIE NEWCOMER & STRING QUARTET with Tommy Prine

Join Carrie and the Gathering of Spirits String Quartet for an evening of music and stories that celebrate, sustain and inspire. 

Carrie will perform songs from her new and past albums with arranger/pianist Gary Walters, violinist Allie Summers and the Gathering of Spirits String Quartet for this unique blending of story and songs that celebrate what is sustaining and hopeful, reminding us of how even in divided times we are still connected at the center of the human heart.  The songs on the new collection explore what it means to live with hope and purpose in challenging times. She sings of seeing wonders in small moments and delight in daily encounters, as well as describes the questions that continue to define and frame her experience. In A Great Wild Mercy Newcomer taps into our shared human longing for a better world that is spiritual and expansive, but always grounded in the most ordinary of things and human sized kindness.  This will offer a new spin on a Hoosier favorite for longtime fans and a great introduction for new listeners. 

Carrie is delighted to invite rising songwriter, Tommy Prine, who is carrying on the musical tradition of his father John and will be opening the show with his own blend of songwriting filled with poignant insights into the human condition.

WATCHHOUSE

with Johanna Samuels

Starting over a decade ago playing coffee shops and local restaurants around North Carolina, Watchhouse is a grassroots success story that’s been driven by Marlin’s poignant songwriting. They’ve sold out iconic venues (Red Rocks, Ryman Auditorium) and attract hundreds of millions of streams while producing exploratory music that “redefines roots music for a younger generation” (Washington Post). 2022 was filled with many endeavors including the American Acoustic Tour with Punch Brothers, headlining shows across the US, collaborating with Planet Bluegrass onMabon, an autumn equinox concert series, and of course Watchhouse (Duo). In 2023, Marlin and Frantz will celebrate the release of Watchhouse (Duo) with a short run of shows that will feature just the two of them, harkening back to their earliest days of performing.

DARLINGSIDE

Darlingside has long been praised for their harmonies and intelligent songwriting, described by NPR as “exquisitely-arranged, literary-minded, baroque folk-pop,” and their dynamic presence (crowded tightly together onstage) have made them a live-performance favorite. But this album showcases their broader storytelling abilities: nature is a looking glass, the songs suggest, with tracks like Ocean Bed, Green + Evergreen, Mountain + Sea, and Crystal Caving making metaphors of their titles. An experience of nature is an experience of self; an experience of self is one of natural change cut and complemented by stasis.

One for the Foxes

with Supertrad

Dave Curley, Tadhg Oì Meachair & Joanna Hyde form an exciting and dynamic transatlantic trio that presents a rousing blend of Irish and American folk music, having already won over audiences on both sides of the ocean. The group is made up of Dublin's Tadhg Oì Meachair (Goitse), Galway's Dave Curley (SLIDE) and Denver, Colorado's Joanna Hyde (The Hydes), and features a mix of Irish and American folk music and song – both traditional and newly- composed – presented in an energetic and engaging manner.

Hawktail

with Joanna Hyde and

Tadhg Ó Meachair

Hawktail is the instrumental acoustic quartet of fiddler Brittany Haas, bassist Paul Kowert, guitarist Jordan Tice, and mandolinist Dominick Leslie. Though at first glance it looks like an acoustic superpicker side-project, their all-original music is cohesive and unique, distinguishing them as an ensemble with a sound built from the ground up. Flush with orchestral sweeps and sparse vigils, with strains of the American South and the North Atlantic, this cosmopolitan sound is not what you'd expect from a string band.

Humbird

with Joanna Hyde and

Tadhg Ó Meachair

Inspired by the crystalline chill of the north country she calls home in Minnesota, Humbird combines a wintry longing with the warmth of a familiar folktale.

NOTE: In person seating is VERY LIMITED for this intimate show in this contemporary arts space. If you are interested in attending, get your tickets early!

Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas

with Joanna Hyde and

Tadhg Ó Meachair

The musical partnership between consummate performer Alasdair Fraser, "the Michael Jordan of Scottish fiddling," and brilliant Californian cellist, Natalie Haas, spans the full spectrum between intimate chamber music and ecstatic dance energy. Over the last 16 years of creating a buzz at festivals and concert halls across the world, they have truly set the standard for fiddle and cello in traditional music. They continue to thrill audiences internationally with their virtuosic playing, their near-telepathic understanding, and the joyful spontaneity and sheer physical presence of their music.

NOTE: In person seating is VERY LIMITED for this intimate show in this contemporary arts space. If you are interested in attending, get your tickets early!

String Workshop - CANCELLED

For more information please write to

info@bloomingtonroots.com 

Sept 11, 2022 7:30 PM EST -Bloomington IN

With Gary Walters, Pianist, Allie Summers & The Skylark Trio

Special guest: Tadhg Meachair

12 beautiful new arrangements by Gary Walters

FAR Center for Contemporary Arts,

For Tickets https://tinyurl.com/2p8rm3mjWe hope you join us for this very special evening of music with Carrie Newcomer, Gary Walters, Allie Summers and the Skylark Trio to perform new and previously recorded songs.

“I'm particularly excited this will be an all women's string quartet!” -Carrie Newcomer

NOTE: In person seating is VERY LIMITED for this intimate show in this contemporary arts space. If you are interested in attending, get your tickets early!

LIVE STREAM ON MANDOLIN - The Sept 11th show will be lived streamed for those not able to join us in person on Mandolin

In-Person Tickets are 30.00 and Streamed Tickets are 18.00. With your purchase of either evening’s in-person ticket, you get 10 day replay of the Sept 11th stream.

Sept 9, 2022 7:30 PM EST -Bloomington IN

With Gary Walters, Pianist, Allie Summers & The Skylark Trio

Special guest: Tadhg Meachair

12 beautiful new arrangements by Gary Walters

FAR Center for Contemporary Arts,

We hope you join us for this very special evening of music with Carrie Newcomer, Gary Walters, Allie Summers and the Skylark Trio to perform new and previously recorded songs.

“I'm particularly excited this will be an all women's string quartet!” -Carrie Newcomer

NOTE: In person seating is VERY LIMITED for this intimate show in this contemporary arts space. If you are interested in attending, get your tickets early!

LIVE STREAM ON MANDOLIN - The Sept 11th show will be lived streamed for those not able to join us in person on Mandolin

In-Person Tickets are 30.00 and Streamed Tickets are 18.00. With your purchase of either evening’s in-person ticket, you get 10 day replay of the Sept 11th stream.