- Jonathan Coulton - Jonathan clearly crawled out from under the same rock as Da Vinci's Notebook and Eric Schwartz. Especially when showing his geeky sides he leans closer to Christine Lavin and Tom Lehrer.
- Red Molly - They are probably familiar to more of you than my other discoveries. What are they? New Wave Traditional Folk? Think of the Mammals, Think of Crooked Still. Think Three part harmonies.
- Iain Campbell Smith. I was able to get him two radio gigs purely on the strength of his back story. As a member of the Australian foreign service he was sent on a peace keeping mission to the Solomon Islands. They had been having a brutal civil war. Think of Rwanda or Baghdad. The trick is the warring factions would only allow the peacekeepers in if they were unarmed. So there was Iain keeping the peace with his guitar. He's funny, he's smart, and he knows how to work the crowd as well as anybody. I've seen him four times with audiences that didn't know him and he won them over every time.
- Pat Wictor - John Platt calls him a Zen Bluesman. Sort of a cross between Chris Smither and the Kennedys. He looks like Orlando Bloom in LOTR.
Red Molly and Pat are both in the FRFF preview tour so many of you will be seeing more of them. Good chance that Iain and maybe Jonathan will be at the Budgiedome.
So who did you discover last year?
"Jeremy takes old blues conceits and a growl that would make Tom Waits jealous and drapes them over unexpected chord changes and an authentic writers voice. His was the first 'demo' in a dogs age that prompted me to pick up the phone."
For his new collection, She Used to Call Me Honey, Wallace has turned to experimenting with the sonic landscape of his music, pushing the boundaries and expectations of what a singer-songwriter can accomplish in both the studio and as a live performer. Edgy, dangerous and with a greater emphasis on the raw energy of his craft, Wallace has emerged with a stunning album that both diverges from, and compliments, his previous material. Sharper, with restrained power and vibrant honesty, his new songs capture Wallace's most personal and creative work to date.
Wallace's first record, My Lucky Day, (Palmetto Records) was an exploration of his blues and folk influences. With clever imagery and traditional arrangements, the album featured both spirited anthems of lost love and haunting melodies of wistful redemption. Songs such as "$1.49", "Johnny", and "See You in September" best represent Wallace at his most heartfelt and inspired.
