Melissa Carper
"I DON'T THINK YOU CAN GET THIS SOUND UNLESS IT'S BORNED IN YA."
said bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley, when asked about what he called "old-time mountain music." When Melissa Carper heard those words, something jumped inside her. While staying in the country with a friend, she found an old DVD of Down From the Mountain, the documentary and concert film of the "O, Brother Where Art Thou" soundtrack that featured this particular Stanley interview. She immediately jotted down "borned in ya" on a piece of paper. "I knew I had to write that song," she recalls.
Handmade Moments
"Always-touring duo Handmade Moments is lighter musically and heavier politically than ever on their fifth album in ten years. As performers, Anna Moss and Joel Ludford are loose and goofy, bringing alto sax, bass clarinet, sousaphone, mandolin, guitar and beatboxing to the mix. As songwriters they are deadly serious on End the Wars, inhabiting dark psyches from American society unrecognizable in pop. What a powerful sign of true artistry, channeling righteous outrage into soulful joy. This new record gets better and better with each listen." - Gavin Dahl