07/17 Saturday :: Jonah Smith

Web Site: Jonah Smith

Images of love, war, natural disaster and political awakening weave through Jonah Smith’s new album, Lights On. Its stories travel from country to city as we are taken from a lone man ice fishing in “Cabin Fever” to a New Year’s Eve celebration in Brooklyn for the song “Mrs. Cooper.” The peripatetic nature of these songs makes sense, considering that many were written while Smith was in motion, traveling the country to promote his then current release, Jonah Smith.

Like his earlier albums, Smith’s latest work defies easy categorization; he pulls from the deep well of American blues and many of its offshoots, including soul, country, and folk. Still, his raw talents as a writer and performer shine on stage irrespective of his unclassifiable style. Smith is essentially a songwriter with the voice of a soul singer.

Web Site: Doug Wamble

"Wamble has devised a unique style all the more impressive for its distinctive personal nature. These days, in particular, a rare, inclusive talent like this comes as nothing less than a gift." - Barnes & Noble "this guitarist, singer, and composer is a one-man compendium of avant Americana." - New Yorker

"[Wamble's music] is as fascinating as it is idiosyncratic...a guitarist-singer-composer with a bright future." - Los Angeles Times

"Mr. Wamble, the guitarist who has been heard with Wynton Marsalis, Cassandra Wilson and Steven Bernstein's Millenial Territory Orchestra, blends...country, blues, gospel, soul and his own blue-eyed soul singing." - New York Times