'Country' Bands // p 2 of 3

John Fahey

John Aloysius Fahey (/ˈfeɪhi/ FAY-hee; February 28, 1939 – February 22, 2001) was an American fingerstyle guitarist and composer who played the steel-string acoustic guitar as a solo instrument. His style has been enormously influential and has been described as the foundation of American Primitive Guitar, a term borrowed from painting and referring mainly to the self-taught nature of the music and its minimalist style. Fahey borrowed from the folk and blues traditions in American roots music, having compiled many forgotten early recordings in these genres. He would later incorporate 20th-century classical, Portuguese, Brazilian, and Indian influences into his work.

Fahey spent many of his later years in poverty and poor health, but enjoyed a minor career resurgence in the late 1990s, with a turn towards the avant-garde. He also created a series of abstract paintings in his final years. Fahey died in 2001 from complications from heart surgery. In 2003, he was ranked 35th on Rolling Stone magazine's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" list.

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Jonathan Wilson

Wilson was born on December 30, 1974 in Forest City, North Carolina and raised in nearby Spindale, North Carolina. His father was a bandleader of a rock group for 35 years and his grandfather a Baptist pastor whose services Wilson was often invited to play at. Wilson has cited his upbringing in North Carolina and the state's rich musical heritage as an early influence.

Wilson founded the band Muscadine with Benji Hughes in 1995. The band released their debut album, The Ballad of Hope Nicholls, on Sire Records in 1998.

Wilson currently maintains his recording studio, Fivestar Studios, in Echo Park, Los Angeles, which he relocated from its original location in Laurel Canyon in 2009. The space is renowned for its sound and analog recording equipment.

Over several months in 2013 and 2014, Wilson produced and played on Conor Oberst's new album Upside Down Mountain released on Nonesuch Records in May 2014. The album was recorded at Wilson's Fivestar Studios in Los Angeles and Blackbird Studios in Nashville.

In 2013 Wilson produced "Jubilee", the fifth album from Canadian band, The Deep Dark Woods in Alberta, Canada.

In 2012, Wilson co-produced and played on Roy Harper's latest album, Man and Myth (Bella Union, 2013) at Fivestar Studios. In the same year, Wilson produced a Glen Campbell session at Fivestar Studios for Daytrotter.

In 2011, Wilson co-produced and played on the debut Father John Misty record, Fear Fun released on Sub Pop, at Fivestar Studios.

In 2010, Wilson produced and collaborated with Bonnie 'Prince' Billy on a series of songs for release on Spiritual Pajamas Records, a boutique 7" label associated with Folk Yeah Presents. Wilson recorded and produced Dawes' debut album, North Hills, at his Laurel Canyon studio. That same year, Wilson recorded and produced Dawes' second album, Nothing Is Wrong, at Five Star Studio.

As part of Wilson's project, What You Need Is What You Have, The Songs of Roy Harper, Wilson has produced songs performed by Will Oldham, Andy Cabic, Chris Robinson, Benji Hughes, Dawes, Jenny O., Johnathan Rice, Josh Tillman, and others. Wilson also produced Jason Boesel's album, Hustler's Son, Mia Doi Todd's album Cosmic Ocean Ship and mixed Goodnight Lenin's debut album, In The Fullness Of Time, due for release in late 2014. Wilson has also recorded and/or produced many other artists in his studio, including Gerald Johnson, James Gadson, and Josh Tillman.

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Josh Rouse

Josh Rouse (born March 9, 1972) is an American folk/roots pop singer-songwriter. Originally from Nebraska, Rouse began his recording career in Nashville in 1998 and later relocated to Spain. In 2014, Rouse won a Spanish Goya Film Award in the category of Best Original Song for "Do You Really Want To Be In Love?" from the motion picture La Gran Familia Española.

Biography
Born in the rural town of Oshkosh, Nebraska, he moved to various places during his childhood including Utah, California, Wyoming, and Georgia. He began writing songs aged 18, and following his nomadic childhood, he eventually moved to Clarksville, Tennessee to attend college (although he soon dropped out and moved to Nashville, Tennessee and worked as a parking valet), where he met some local musicians and began recording.

The initial recordings he put to tape eventually became his debut release, Dressed Up Like Nebraska (1998). The album received critical acclaim from music writers. Billboard wrote that it was "a dark-horse gem", and "[a]s pure and unpretentious as any singer/songwriter album issued this year". He went on to collaborate with Kurt Wagner on an EP the following year, and toured in support of artists such as Mark Eitzel, Aimee Mann, and Vic Chesnutt. Home (2000) and Under Cold Blue Stars (2002) followed before he began a working relationship with producer Brad Jones on 1972, released in 2003. "Directions" from Home was used on the soundtrack to Cameron Crowe's film Vanilla Sky.

After his first marriage ended, Rouse relocated to Spain to be with his then girlfriend (and now wife) Paz Suay and has resided there off and on since 2004. His last album recorded before the move, Nashville, was released in 2005 and reached number 66 on the UK Albums Chart. Rouse and Suay moved back to the US to promote his 2007 album Country Mouse City House, but they returned to Spain after Suay became pregnant. He collaborated with Suay as 'She's Spanish, I'm American', the duo releasing a self-titled EP in 2007. His music took on Spanish and Latin American influences and albums such as El Turista included songs sung in Spanish.

Rouse and Suay have two children.

On November 1, 2019, Rouse released the holiday album The Holiday Sounds Of Josh Rouse.

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Julia Jacklin

Julia Jacklin (born 30 August 1990) is an Australian singer-songwriter based in Sydney, Australia.

Jacklin grew up in the Blue Mountains, Australia, in a family of school teachers. Inspired by Britney Spears, at the age of 10, she took classical singing lessons before joining a high school band which did Avril Lavigne and Evanescence covers. She studied social policy at Sydney University, and after graduating she lived in a garage in Glebe, a suburb of Sydney, and worked in a factory making essential oils. Growing up, Jacklin did not know anyone who was a full-time musician, and her family did not understand what it meant to be a musician: “They didn’t really see it as being something that was going to work out, at all,” Jacklin says in an interview with Sound of Boston. She continued to perform locally, and formed the band Salta together with Liz Hughes in 2012.

She gained an audience and significant critical acclaim through her first two singles "Pool Party" and "Coming of Age" which both received radio airplay on BBC Radio 6 Music. She has been touring extensively since March 2016 in the US, UK, Europe and Australia, appearing at various festivals (most notably End of the Road Festival, Electric Picnic and South by Southwest). She has played headline gigs and has also supported artists such as First Aid Kit, Whitney, Marlon Williams and Okkervil River. In 2016, Rolling Stone Australia tipped Jacklin as one of their "Future Is Now" artists, while Triple J nominated her for a J Award for Unearthed Artist of the Year. Jacklin did not consider herself a full-time musician until August 2016, when she really started touring and figured she could not manage her regular job anymore

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Justin Townes Earle

Justin Townes Earle (born January 4, 1982) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is a son of alternative country artist Steve Earle and is named after Townes Van Zandt.

Early life
Earle grew up in South Nashville, Tennessee, with his mother, Carol Ann Hunter Earle. His father, Steve Earle, gave him his middle name in honor of his own mentor, singer and songwriter Townes van Zandt. At the age of two he was left by his father with his mother, but returned to live with his father after Steve got clean in 1994. He dropped out of school, occasionally touring with and working for his father, eventually moving to eastern Tennessee with other songwriters. Like his father, Earle battled addiction beginning in his early teens.

Career
Earle played in two Nashville bands: the Distributors, a rock band, and a ragtime and bluegrass combo the Swindlers. Earle spent some time as guitarist and keyboardist for his father's touring band the Dukes.

Earle developed a hybrid style of music mixing folk, blues and country. In 2007, he released a six-song EP called Yuma. He then signed a contract with Chicago's Bloodshot Records and he released an album called The Good Life in 2008.

In 2009 Earle co-billed The Big Surprise Tour with Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Old Crow Medicine Show and The Felice Brothers and released the album Midnight at the Movies. In September 2009, Earle received an Americana Music Award for New and Emerging Artist of the Year.

In 2010 he released the album Harlem River Blues, followed by the album Nothing's Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now in 2012. He also appeared in an episode of the HBO television series Treme with his father.

In 2011 Earle received the Americana Music Award in the Song of the Year category for "Harlem River Blues". His album of the same name has been described as having a "gently flowing, urban Americana sound, with horns, organ and tangy electric guitar". That year he also contributed a cover of Maybe Baby on the 2011 tribute album Rave on Buddy Holly. and played Newport Folk Festival and the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival.

Nothing's Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now was listed at album number 37 on Rolling Stone's list of the top 50 albums of 2012, with the annotation as follows: "The son of country-rock renegade Steve Earle has grown into a songwriter to rival his dad."

Earle produced Wanda Jackson's album Unfinished Business in 2012.

Earle played the Grand Ole Opry in 2008, Historical WSM, South By Southwest (2008–2010, 2012), the historic Beacon Theater (May 2009), Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion (September 2009), Bonnaroo (2009) Bumbershoot (2010), the East Coast Blues & Roots Music Festival (Byron Bay, Australia), 2012, the Bowery Ballroom (March 2010) the Winnipeg Folk Festival (July 2008), and the Nelsonville Music Festival (2008 and 2011).

In 2018, Earle opened up for California rock band Social Distortion.

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Linda Ronstadt

Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is a retired American popular music singer known for singing in a wide range of genres including rock, country, light opera, and Latin. She has earned 10 Grammy Awards, three American Music Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, and an ALMA Award, and many of her albums have been certified gold, platinum or multiplatinum in the United States and internationally. She has also earned nominations for a Tony Award and a Golden Globe award. She was awarded the Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award by The Latin Recording Academy in 2011 and also awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award by The Recording Academy in 2016. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2014. On July 28, 2014, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts and Humanities. In 2019, she will receive a joint star with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for their work as the group Trio.

In total, she has released over 30 studio albums and 15 compilation or greatest hits albums. Ronstadt charted 38 Billboard Hot 100 singles, with 21 reaching the top 40, 10 in the top 10, three at number 2, and "You're No Good" at number 1. This success did not translate to the UK, with only her single "Blue Bayou" reaching the UK Top 40. Her duet with Aaron Neville, "Don't Know Much", peaked at number 2 in December 1989. In addition, she has charted 36 albums, 10 top-10 albums and three number 1 albums on the Billboard Pop Album Chart. Her autobiography, Simple Dreams: A Musical Memoir, was published in September 2013. It debuted in the Top 10 on The New York Times Best Seller list.

Ronstadt has collaborated with artists in diverse genres, including Bette Midler, Billy Eckstine, Frank Zappa, Carla Bley (Escalator Over the Hill), Rosemary Clooney, Flaco Jiménez, Philip Glass, Warren Zevon, Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons, Dolly Parton, Neil Young, Paul Simon, Earl Scruggs, Johnny Cash, and Nelson Riddle. She has lent her voice to over 120 albums and has sold more than 100 million records, making her one of the world's best-selling artists of all time. Christopher Loudon, of Jazz Times, wrote in 2004 that Ronstadt is "blessed with arguably the most sterling set of pipes of her generation."

After completing her last live concert in late 2009, Ronstadt retired in 2011. She was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in December 2012, which left her unable to sing.

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Lucinda Williams

Three-time Grammy Award winner, Lucinda Williams has been carving her own path for more than three decades now. Born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, Williams had been imbued with a “culturally rich, economically poor” worldview. Several years of playing the hardscrabble clubs gave her a solid enough footing to record a self-titled album that would become a touchstone for the embryonic Americana movement – helping launch a thousand musical ships along the way.

While not a huge commercial success at the time Lucinda Williams (aka, the Rough Trade album) retained a cult reputation, and finally got the reception it deserved upon its reissue in 2014. Jim Farber of New York’s Daily News hailed the reissue by saying “Listening again proves it to be that rarest of beasts: a perfect work. There’s not a chord, lyric, beat or inflection that doesn’t pull at the heart or make it soar.”

For much of the next decade, Williams moved around the country, stopping in Austin, Los Angeles, Nashville, and turning out work that won immense respect within the industry (winning a Grammy for Mary Chapin Carpenter’s version of “Passionate Kisses”) and a gradually growing cult audience. While her recorded output was sparse for a time, the work that emerged was invariably hailed for its indelible impressionism — like 1998’s Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, which notched her first Grammy as a performer.

The past decade brought further development, both musically and personally, evidenced on albums like West (2007), which All Music Guide called “flawless…destined to become a classic” and Blessed (2011), which the Los Angeles Times dubbed “a dynamic, human, album, one that’s easy to fall in love with.” Those albums retained much of Williams’ trademark melancholy and southern Gothic starkness, but also exuded more rays of light and hope. This all lead to the 2014 release of Williams’ first double studio album Down Where The Spirit Meets The Bone. The album received overwhelming praise from the media and fans, thus proving that Williams’ songwriting is as strong and important as it has ever been.

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Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real

Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, sometimes referred to as POTR, is an American country rock group based in California. The band consists of Lukas Nelson (lead vocals, guitar), Anthony LoGerfo (drums, percussion), Corey McCormick (bass guitar, vocals), Logan Metz (keyboards, lap steel, guitar, harmonica, vocals), and Tato Melgar (percussion). Lukas is the son of Willie Nelson. Lukas Nelson & Promise of The Real has released 6 studio albums and 4 EP's.

Since 2015, Promise of the Real have been Canadian musician Neil Young's regular backing band. The band has recorded two studio albums with Young, The Monsanto Years (2015) and The Visitor (2017), a soundtrack album, Paradox (2018), and a live album, Earth (2016).

Formation of Promise of the Real

Lukas Autry Nelson moved from Paia, Hawaii to Los Angeles in 2007 to attend Loyola Marymount University where he met and became friends with future keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist Logan Metz, who later joined the band in 2018. In 2008, Nelson met then current if all else fails drummer Anthony LoGerfo at a Neil Young concert, where they bonded over their shared love of rock music. They began playing music together regularly after Lukas dropped out of college in October, 2008. They enlisted Tato Melgar (percussionist), and Merlyn Kelly (bassist) to form POTR.

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Maggie Björklund

Margrethe "Maggie" Björklund is a Danish guitarist and singer-songwriter who composes, plays, and sings music in the folk and alternative country genres. She began her career playing electric guitar in the female band The Darleens and briefly for the experimental pop band Miss B Haven. Björklund then started playing pedal steel guitar as a studio musician and has released two solo recordings.

Early life
Maggie Björklund was born in Denmark and grew up near Copenhagen. She took piano lessons, but switched to guitar as soon as she could. She moved to Hollywood and attended the Musicians Institute, where she was introduced to country music. She returned to Denmark after a year.

Career
Back in Denmark, she formed the all-female country band Darleens, and they recorded three albums for Sony Records. After Darleens split up, she took pedal steel guitar lessons from Jeff Newman in Nashville, Tennessee.

Her 2011 debut Coming Home was produced by Johnny Sangster (The Tripwires). The record featured members of Calexico, and guest vocalists Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees), Jon Auer (The Posies), and Rachel Flotard (Visqueen).

After the album's release, she played pedal steel with Jack White's all-female backing band, the Peacocks. In 2011 and 2012 she performed at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. She also toured with John Doe and with Exene Cervenka from the band X.

For her sophomore album Shaken, released in 2014, she enlisted John Convertino (Calexico), Barb Hunter (Afghan Whigs), and Jim Barr (Portishead). John Parish (producer for Sparklehorse) was producer, and Kurt Wagner (Lambchop) provided a guest vocal. The songs reflected the impact of the death of her mother.

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Magnolia Electric Co.

In March 2003, while on tour, Molina announced that he would rename the band Magnolia Electric Co., retaining the stylistic direction of the album of the same name. Molina also continued to release solo work under his own name. The first such release came in January 2004, as the full-length vinyl release Pyramid Electric Co..

Though Magnolia Electric Co. and Pyramid Electric Co. were originally intended as a double album, the latter seems to be the stylistic polar opposite of the former.

Engineered by Mike Mogis, who also engineered Ghost Tropic, Pyramid found Molina alone at the microphone with only his voice and a piano or guitar. Magnolia Electric Co.'s first official release was a live album, Trials and Errors, followed by a studio album, What Comes After The Blues, and an EP, Hard To Love a Man, all released in 2005. In 2006, Molina released two more records: the sparse solo Let Me Go, Let Me Go, Let Me Go and the more conventional Fading Trails with Magnolia Electric Co., the latter culled from three separate sessions over the previous year.

It is not entirely clear when Songs: Ohia became Magnolia Electric Co. In interviews, Molina claimed that he considered the tenure of Songs: Ohia over after Didn't It Rain, which would make Magnolia Electric Co. the eponymous debut album under the new name. The name "Songs: Ohia" appears nowhere on the artwork of the album and only a promotional sticker on the cellophane wrapping connects it with the prior name. Nevertheless, Secretly Canadian still promotes the album under the Songs: Ohia moniker. On the other hand, the Magnolia Electric Co. live album Trials and Errors was recorded on April 16, 2003, at the Ancienne Belgique club in Brussels, at a time when the band was still touring under the Songs: Ohia name. Pitchfork Media later reported that name change would be made official after the Spanish tour in October 2003.

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Marlon Williams

Marlon Williams (born 31 December 1990) is a New Zealand singer-songwriter, guitarist and actor based in Melbourne, Australia. Primarily known as a solo artist, he works and tours with his backing band The Yarra Benders and first came to attention as front-man of The Unfaithful Ways and for his collaborative work with musician Delaney Davidson.

Early life and family

Williams was born in Christchurch to David Williams, a librarian and musician, and Jenny Rendall, a visual artist, and raised in the nearby port town of Lyttelton. He is of Ngāi Tahu and Ngāi Tai descent. Williams had a musical upbringing and was a member of the choir of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, which toured Europe in 2009–10. He was educated at Christchurch Boys' High School and learned to play guitar during his final year there

Awards and nominations

For his music, Williams has won multiple New Zealand Music Awards, New Zealand's most prominent music award, as well as the country's most significant songwriting honor, APRA's Silver Scroll, among other recognition.

From twelve nominations including three for Album of the Year, Williams has won five New Zealand Music Awards, including Breakthrough Artist of the Year in 2015 and Album of the Year in 2018 for Make Way for Love. Williams was recognized early in his music career when his group The Unfaithful Ways was nominated for the ceremony's Critics' Choice Prize in 2011. He has been a finalist for an APRA Award on four separate years. He won his first APRA Award in 2013 with Delaney Davidson, receiving the honor for Best Country Music Song after being a finalist the previous year in the same category. In 2015, Marlon was shortlisted for the prestigious Silver Scroll songwriting award for "Dark Child." His single "Nobody Gets What They Want Anymore (feat. Aldous Harding)" was awarded the Silver Scroll in 2018. Additionally, he was nominated for a 2015 ARIA Music Award in the category of Best Blues and Roots Album.

In November 2020 he was named one of the best dressed men in show business on David Hartnell MNZM's Best Dressed List.

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Michelle Moonshine

Cutting her teeth by sneaking into venues and clubs to perform starting at eighteen years old, Michelle Moonshine has spent the last seven years developing her own blend of Americana music.

Pulling from such influences as Gram Parsons, Doc Watson and Dylan, you can hear tastes of Folk, Classic Country, Bluegrass and American Roots music.

With frequent comparisons to Alison Krauss or a young Emmylou Harris, Michelle delivers a performance that feels both raw yet refined.

Declining her recruitment from NBC's The Voice, she traded bright lights for hard work and a chance to serve the song with a group of seasoned musicians who both compliment and contribute to her sound.

Michelle and company are currently finishing up their upcoming album and continue to showcase their music regionally with lush harmony and ample twang.

Touring artist Michelle Moonshine has shared the stage with the likes of Lake Street Dive, Leftover Salmon, Lukas Nelson and POTR, Mason Jennings, Charlie Parr, Los Lobos, Lil Smokies, Niki Bluhm, Dead Winter Carpenters, Amy Helm, Sam Outlaw, Luther Dickinson of North Mississippi Allstars, Judy Collins, Howie Day, Paul Thorn and is based in Salt Lake City.

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My Morning Jacket

My Morning Jacket is an American rock band formed in Louisville, Kentucky in 1998. The band currently consists of vocalist/guitarist Jim James, bassist Tom Blankenship, drummer Patrick Hallahan, guitarist Carl Broemel, and keyboardist Bo Koster. The band's sound, rooted in rock and country, is often experimental and psychedelic. The group amassed a following beginning in the 2000s in part due to their live performances.

The group first found success in Europe after the release of its debut album, The Tennessee Fire (1999). Its next release, At Dawn (2001), led to a large stateside following and preceded several lineup changes. After signing to major label ATO Records, the group released two albums, It Still Moves (2003) and Z (2005), with the latter representing a critical breakthrough. The group's next release, Evil Urges (2008), was more polarizing for fans and critics, while Circuital (2011), its sixth album, saw a more measured response. After many years of side projects and touring, the band's seventh album, The Waterfall, was released in 2015.

The band's debut album, The Tennessee Fire, was released in May 1999. It was mildly successful in the U.S., though it became a surprise hit internationally, particularly in the Netherlands and Belgium. Soon, the group launched a European tour, where it received high marks from Dutch and Belgian press; the group also appeared in the Dutch documentary, This is NOT America. Danny Cash joined the band as keyboardist in 2000.

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Neil Young

Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945), is a Canadian singer-songwriter and musician. After embarking on a music career in the 1960s, he moved to Los Angeles, where he formed Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay and others. Young had released two solo albums and three as a member of Buffalo Springfield by the time he joined Crosby, Stills & Nash in 1969. From his early solo albums and those with his backing band Crazy Horse, Young has recorded a steady stream of studio and live albums, sometimes warring with his recording company along the way.

Young's guitar work, deeply personal lyrics and signature tenor singing voice transcend his long career. Young also plays piano and harmonica on many albums, which frequently combine folk, rock, country and other musical styles. His often distorted electric guitar playing, especially with Crazy Horse, earned him the nickname "Godfather of Grunge" and led to his 1995 album Mirror Ball with Pearl Jam. More recently Young has been backed by Promise of the Real.

Young directed (or co-directed) films using the pseudonym Bernard Shakey, including Journey Through the Past (1973), Rust Never Sleeps (1979), Human Highway (1982), Greendale (2003), and CSNY/Déjà Vu (2008). He also contributed to the soundtracks of the films Philadelphia (1993) and Dead Man (1995).

Young has received several Grammy and Juno awards. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted him twice: as a solo artist in 1995 and in 1997 as a member of Buffalo Springfield. In 2000, Rolling Stone named Young the 34th greatest rock 'n roll artist.

He has lived in California since the 1960s but retains Canadian citizenship. He was awarded the Order of Manitoba on July 14, 2006, and was made an Officer of the Order of Canada on December 30, 2009.

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