One of my favorite weekends!

It's here! It's here! It's here! Folk Festival weekend is finally here! The Ann Arbor Folk Festival is one of my favorite times of the year. For those who aren't familiar, The A2 Folk Fest is basically a giant fundraiser for The Ark which is this awesome super small and cozy music venue that showcases folk and roots music. The Ark is one of my absolute favorite places to see live music. Not a bad seat in the house, the hallways are lined with photos of artists (both legendary and up and coming) who've played there, and the dressing room walls are covered in their signatures. If you're ever in the Ann Arbor area, you definitely have to catch a concert there.

This is the 33rd year that they've put on the festival. It's a two night festival, with the first night focusing on the "new direction" of folk and roots music, and the second night brings in musicians playing more traditional folk and roots. Since I've been back in the area, I've had the awesome opportunity to volunteer for The Ark, which means I get to work the festival and see the concerts for free. Best. Gig. EVER.

This year they've got Jay Farrar with Ben Gibbard, and Iron & Wine headlining the first night. Rosanne Cash, Richie Havens, and Doc Watson are headlining the second night. Those are some damn good headliners if I do say myself. But one of the great things about the Folk Festival is they showcase lesser known acts throughout the nights as well. That's how I discovered my absolute favorite artist of the past year, Joe Pug (I've since seen him three more times live and can't wait until his first full length album comes out next month). I'm hoping I can make a similar discovery or two this year. Check out the full line-up here.

So, as a preview, here is some music by the artists featured this year. Brace yourself for some post-concert gushing about how awesome it was...


He is going to be awesome to see live. True story.

All Along The Watchtower - Richie Havens
LOVE seeing him live. I could listen to him play and tell his stories for forever.

Hickory - Iron & Wine
CANNOT WAIT to see him.

Sea of Heartbreak - Rosanne Cash w/ Bruce Springsteen
I honestly don't know a lot of her music but I really love her album, The List, and I feel like it'll almost be like seeing her dad right? ;)


Love it. It will be neat to have seen both main members of Uncle Tupelo at back to back festivals (Tweedy headlined last year)



Of the non-headliners, I'm most excited to see this band. I've gotten a few recommendations to check them out, but keep forgetting so yay for Folk Fest for giving me that chance. haha.

Whew. It's going to be a busy but crazy awesome couple of days.

This Too Shall Pass

I'll be honest. Aside from the epic treadmill video a few years ago, I don't really follow the band OK Go. I had no idea they released a new album recently. And I had no idea they released a new video. And surprise surprise, it's actually really really catchy. Their label won't allow embedding from YouTube (lame) but I was able to track it down on Vimeo. Head on over to their site to get the marching band version of the song for free (and to check out their new album, upcoming shows, etc.).

OK Go - This Too Shall Pass from OK Go on Vimeo.

This Too Shall Pass

pursuit of happiness

Kid Cudi took a break from touring with Lady GaGa recently and made a stop in Ann Arbor. I was beside myself when I saw he was coming to town. He didn't disappoint at all. Though the barrage of opening acts almost made me go crazy...minus local rap legend One Be Lo...Kid Cudi was fantastic. The strobe light extravaganza blew my mind. The segue into Day N Night was amazing. I thought he was gonna do the remix version, but he broke it down into the slow burner that I love. The acapella "Daps and Pounds" was fantastic, and "Pursuit of Happiness" was pretty much perfect. DEFINITELY see this kid if he's performing in your area. He puts on one hell of a show.
Not the best quality but here's him performing Day N Night...trust it was amazing live...



Pursuit of Happiness


I also want to plug for local rapper One Be Lo. Not too many people paid any attention to his opening act, which is too too bad. It should have just been him and Kid Cudi. Def check him out. He was half of Binary Star, and has released three albums on his own label, Subterraneous Records. Def check out his album, S.O.N.O.G.R.A.M. It's time that he hit the national stage. He's way past due to be a breakthough star.

Evil Of Self

Tallest Man on Earth

Let me just start out by saying that I love me some folk music. Give me a song with an acoustic guitar and some make you think type lyrics and I'm pretty much in heaven. So imagine my delight when I came across The Tallest Man on Earth (aka Kristian Matsson). He's got Dylan written all over him, which is probably subconsciously why I love him so much. After getting his album, Shallow Grave, and loving it, I came across his Daytrotter session and fell in love some more. His stripped down piano version of "I Won't Be Found" is absolutely gorgeous. He's got a great series of videos on youtube of him playing songs to a sunset (sigh...). Now he just needs to do another tour in the US so I can see him live.

2009.09.09 Tallest Man on Earth, Bardens Boudoir (Honey, Let Me in) from Tim Ferguson on Vimeo.

I Won't Be Found (Daytrotter)
The Gardener

Go On, Say It...

Blind Pilot is a great band. I had the opportunity to see them live earlier this month when they played in Ann Arbor. I had their single "Go On, Say It" from a sampler CD, and I really liked it, and since I was volunteering at the venue, I didn't have to buy a ticket so I couldn't possibly lose in this situation...free live music, can't get much better than that. And I can honestly say I was not disappointed at all. Blind Pilot put on a great show. Their music is kinda low key, but apparently they've got some more upbeat songs up their sleeve that they just haven't released yet (see "We Are the Tide"). I was so impressed that I bought their CD, 3 Rounds and a Sound, from the merch table and it's seriously been playing non-stop since. Favorites include "The Bitter End," "Oviedo," and "One Red Thread," but all the tracks are pretty solid.

They do cool things too, like do bike tours down the west coast. Badass. You should buy their album and see them when they play in your area.






Bitter End
We Are The Tide
Go On, Say It

I'm making it back!

Holy wow. I was completely unprepared for how much damn time grad school was going to take up. To the people who are still awesome and sending me music to check out, thank you!! I really promise I'm not ignoring you, it's just that classes like Principles of Chemical Hazards and Biostats have completely taken over my life....sigh...

BUT I've decided in order to keep my sanity I need music breaks. It's amazing how much better I feel after spending an hour or so poking around online for music and/or strumming out some tunes on my guitar. So, I'm bringing the blog back. I have to find some better file hosting sites, but be on the lookout for some new posts in the very near future. I've gotten to go to some pretty awesome shows in the last month and have some good ones coming up so I've got lots to say! In the meantime check out the new video from one of my absolute FAVORITE groups of the last few months, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros....If you haven't purchased their album, DO IT NOW! Seriously. It's def one of my faves of the past year.

Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros "KISSES OVER BABYLON" from Edward Sharpe on Vimeo.

Monsters on Conan

I'm still obsessively listening to the Monsters of Folk album that came out yesterday, so no review just yet. BUT the guys were on The Tonight Show last night. And judging by what I've heard on the album so far and by watching their performance, I'm going to try my damnedest to catch one of their live shows. Check it out:


This video and song is pretty awesome too. Go buy their album now.