Today we'd like to tell you about Raye Zaragoza

Raye Zaragoza is a galvanizing presence, a self-assured artist making music to fight for, represent, and celebrate those left too long outside the spotlight. Known for tenacious feminist anthems and fearless protest folk, her stage presence teems with determined morale. However, Zaragoza was not always the fortified woman of color who takes the stage today. As a Japanese-American, Mexican, Indigenous woman, Zaragoza spent much of her early life trying to assimilate with the world around her, to meet punishing standards of beauty synonymous with just one color of skin—and not her own. Zaragoza confesses, “I truly thought that in order to be beautiful, you had to be white.” She has come a long way from that youthful pain, proclaiming “I am proud to be a multicultural brown woman with insecurities and a vibrant intersectional identity that I continue to grapple with. I hope young girls of today will know that the It Girl is whatever the hell they want to be.”

Recent release: Woman in Color is Zaragoza’s sophomore album out now on Rebel River Records, her own independent label. The album delivers powerful missives about embracing one’s own identity and discovering the power behind it, all across brisk, emotive, compelling folk melodies. Once deemed “one of the most politically relevant artists in her genre” by Paste Magazine, Zaragoza now offers an intimate exploration of coming into her own, in a country where for many, simply existing is political. 

Also check out: Zaragoza will be performing a virtual Acoustic Holiday Spectacular this Thursday on StageIt, December 17th — an evening of acoustic holiday songs and songs from the new album (above). Tickets are “pay what you want” and 10% will be donated to Rising Hearts. Zaragoza writes: “Bring your favorite holiday treat & ugly holiday sweaters are optional but encouraged!”

You can also find Rae Zaragoza on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. (If you go to YouTube, be sure to subscribe to her channel!)

Today we'd like to tell you about Victory Boyd

Victory’s music is poignant and magnetic, a fusion of folk, funk and rhythm and blues that resounds beyond any single genre. She has been compared to legendary artists like Tracy Chapman, Roberta Flack, and Nina Simone. Her distinctive vocals create a rich mosaic of raw sentiment, revelatory honesty and heightened poeticism that ranges from fiery and bold to vulnerable and melancholy. Victory’s personally-charged songs bookmark moments in her evolution with a textured and layered sound that’s self-expressive, reflective and relatable. Her lyrics focus on the truth, pains and complexities of life with a variety of sonic narratives that resonate with the human experience.

Recent release: The single I Wanna Make You Happy is a sunny, symphonic pop-soul gem! 

Also check out: The Broken Instrument was released in 2018, but we didn’t discover it until this year and it instantly became a favorite. Soul Tracks calls it “a masterful three movement story of being fractured, discarded, discovered and redeemed accomplishes both. … Victory speaks through an instrument that made years of beautiful music until it broke, and the owners tossed it on the curb where it was then tossed into a garbage truck and eventually thrown into what appears to be the instrument’s final resting place – a landfill — before ultimately being rescued.”

You can also find Victory Boyd on Facebook and YouTube. (If you go to YouTube, be sure to subscribe to herr channel!)

Today we'd like to tell you about Daphne Gampel

A singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist based in New York City, Daphne Gampel's jazz and folk infused pop music bares the traces of an eclectic musical background. The daughter of a widely celebrated, Paris-based concert pianist, Daphne grew up steeped in classical music and began learning classical guitar at the age of five. At 14, she began formal vocal training at New York City’s prestigious LaGuardia High School for Performing Arts. While at Wesleyan University, Daphne studied jazz, composition, and South Indian percussion, and ethnomusicology under the tutelage of Noah Baermann, Jay Hoggard, Tyshawn Sorey, Jane Alden, David Nelson, and B. Balusubrahmaniyan.

Daphne’s devotion to music education has lead to a number of mentoring positions, including Co-Director of the Massillon Conservatory Children's Choir in Paris, and Songwriting Fellow for the Middletown Lullaby Project. As a songwriter and composer, she is a National Young Arts Foundation and Songwriters Association of Washington award recipient and 2018 Johnny Mercer Songwriter’s Project Fellow. In 2019, Daphne entered the film world, writing original music for the award winning short film KARAOKE SUPERSTAR. In 2018, Daphne’s Davenport grant award propelled her research into the project Above the Noise, a contemporary oratorio, whose original score received the Gwen Livingston Pokora Prize for musical composition in 2019.

Recent release: Gampel’s debut full length album Eventide is an all-original collection featuring her eclectic style. You’ll hear traces of the more distant past, with ethereal multi-tracked harmonies reminiscent of Joni Mitchell, vocal dexterity that evokes Sarah Vaughan, and a sense of intimacy of delivery suggestive of Roberta Flack, while at the same time bringing in sounds of more contemporary vocalists such as Nai Palm, Erykah Badu, and Amy Winehouse. Her fluency in jazz informs her sound but is not overbearing, rather serving to enhance the twists and turns of her creative yet exceptionally catchy original songs. 

Also check out: I originally discovered Gampel’s music through her Instagram, where she continues to work on a project posting 100 songs, often covering requests from comments in previous days’ posts. The clips are raw and informal, but quickly pull you into Gampel’s unique vocal talents and put a delightfully diverse array of songs on display. If you’re on Insta, definitely give her a follow there!

You can also find Daphne Gampel on Facebook and YouTube. (If you go to YouTube, be sure to subscribe to their channel!)

Today we'd like to tell you about The Jellyman’s Daughter

Scottish duo The Jellyman's Daughter lands squarely in the middle of an intriguing crossroads between bluegrass, post-rock, folk and soul, managing at the same time to sound not a whole lot like any of those genres. Emily Kelly and Graham Coe write their songs together with a focus on doing something new, mixing their intimate vocal harmonies with wild and visceral cello, driving guitar and sweet mandolin, often complimented by banjo nd double bass.

The duo’s debut album, released in late 2014, established The Jellyman’s Daughter as something fresh and exciting. Reviewers unanimously remarked upon the originality in Emily and Graham’s songwriting and arrangements, while they enjoyed the sweet closeness of their vocal harmonies, as well as Graham’s unconventional cello playing. The Sunday Herald (Scotland) made it one of their Top Albums of The Year, noting that “Graham can make his instrument as percussive as a drum, as grounded as a bass or as sweet as a fiddle... when Kelly and Coe sing together, their harmonies squeeze the heart."

Most recent release: The duo’s second full-length album Dead Reckoning (2018) marked step forward in maturity, depth and scope while retaining the affinity that is the foundation of their sound. Dead Reckoning takes its title from a navigational term that, when applied to the human spirit, is analogous to navigating our way through life, and how we progress (or otherwise). This theme permeates the album’s 10 songs in different ways, ranging from the overwhelming sense of bleakness imbued by many world events in recent years to more personal experiences of steering a course through relationships and journeys both physical and emotional. 

Also check out: A new song called I Won’t Be Going Anywhere, written by the duo during the COVID-19 lockdown. They have made it available as a free download here, but you can also make a donation if you’re able.

You can also find The Jellyman’s Daughter on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. (If you go to YouTube, be sure to subscribe to their channel!)

Today we'd like to tell you about Alexa Rose

Alexa Rose was born in the Alleghany Highlands of western Virginia, raised in the tiny railroad town of Clifton Forge. Though no one in her immediate family played or sang, she inherited a deep musical legacy. A mostly self-taught musician, Rose picked up the guitar as a teen. As a music major at Appalachian State University, Rose was fully exposed to a wealth of old time music, regional stylists like Doc Watson, and most crucially, the ancient folk ballads carried over from the British Isles.

Her debut album Medicine for Living is a fully realized, multi-layered merger of old country music, traditional folk songs, colored by rock and roll and mountain soul.

Most recent release: Medicine for Living, October 2019

Also check out: This page of lyrics from Medicine for Living. “I find a lot of beauty in everyday life,” Rose says. “How we look upon the small things, and how we handle those larger obstacles that stand in our way.”

You can also find Rose on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. (If you go to YouTube, be sure to subscribe to her channel!)

Today we'd like to tell you about The Wildmans

The up and coming Neo-traditional stringband The Wildmans come from the one stoplight town of Floyd, Virginia, in the heart of the Appalachian mountain music tradition.

Featuring siblings Eli and Aila Wildman, winners of the 2018 Galax Old Fiddler’s Convention First Place in Mandolin and Old Time Fiddle and Best All Around Performer awards respectively, and joined by award winning (1st in Galax 2015 & 2016) clawhammer banjo player Victor Furtado and Sean Newman (of the Dharma Bombs) on bass and vocals.

With a base firmly in old-time roots music, The Wildmans push the genre boundaries with acoustic electric instruments and effects to create a bigger sound, with original jam vibes, modern classics and jazz standards, Bob Dylan and Tedeschi Trucks covers, all alongside our favorite old time and original fiddle tunes. The Wildmans bring a new twist to old time/American roots music.

Most recent release: Their brand new self-titled debut album! The Wildmans, out August 7th!

Also check out: You can still stream this CD release concert at The Floyd Country Store from late July, which also features Acousticool alums Dori Freeman and Nicholas Falk with an opening set.

You can also find The Wildmans on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. (If you go to YouTube, be sure to subscribe to their channel!)

Today we'd like to tell you about Keren Abreu

Keren Abreu is a dynamic singer-songwriter born and raised in the Bronx, New York. Her R&B/soul music is infused with various aspects of her upbringing, including but not limited to her Afro-Dominican background, the many years she spent in church, and her love of jazz and musical theater. Abreu has sung opera, musical theater, and college a cappella before stumbling upon her current passion for R&B/Soul. She’s performed at Harlem’s Silvana, The Bowery Electric, and other storied New York venues.

Previous groups include the Shades of Yale, an a cappella group dedicated to singing music of the African Diaspora and the African American tradition, Whim ‘n Rhythm, Yale’s all-women, all-senior vocal ensemble, the Yale Women’s Slavic Chorus, and several student bands including A Streetcar Named Funk, A.Squared, and Slam Dank, an R&B/pop group she started.

Most recent release: Her brand new EP, Éxito

Also check out: Abreu’s SoundCloud page for some other recordings, beyond the new EP..

You can also find Abreu on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. (If you go to YouTube, be sure to subscribe to her channel!)

Today we'd like to tell you about Joy Ike

Polished and precise, yet buoyed with an airy grace, Joy Ike paints with a broad palette that defies easy categorization. The Nigerian-American, Philadelphia, PA-based artist crafts music at turns soaring and plaintive, draped around a voice all dusky suede. Fiery, free, and immediately arresting, Ike possesses a powerful instrument which she wields with humble virtuosity. As warm and beautiful as the lovely tape hiss on an old jazz record, her songs leave the listener uplifted, perhaps a little teary-eyed, and very much satisfied.

Drawn to both down-tempo folk and indie rock as well as mainstream pop, Ike writes from a place of purity, following her muse to create art that speaks from the soul. While her music might be incredibly soulful and rhythmic, it has always resonated more within the folk world, and for that she makes no apologies.

Most recent release: Bigger Than Your Box, April 2018

Also check out: The Pittsburgh native’s cover of Fred Rogers’ (yep, Mr. Rogers) “Won’t You Be My Neighbor.”
”The feel-good video for the song shows Ike dancing and leading children through Pittsburgh’s North Side. The kids look like they’re having the time of their lives making crafts, playing cardboard instruments and swaying to the happy tune. But most of all, it’s an infectious blend of Ike’s folk style with Rogers’ pure lyrics.” —Chris Pastrick, TribLive.com

You can also find Ike on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. (If you go to YouTube, be sure to subscribe to her channel!)

Today we'd like to tell you about Violet Bell

Confession: We’ve been listening to North Carolina progressive folk duo Violet Bell (Lizzy Ross and Omar Ruiz-Lopez) for a couple years now, and trying to get them to Acousticool for a house concert. (Sometimes it just takes a while to find a date that works on both ends.) So we might be stretching the “new-to-us” aspect of this Discoveries series just a bit right now. Still, Violet Bell makes gorgeous music we really want to make sure you know about. Their most recent album Honey in My Heart is full of ebbing and flowing emotion; full of passion, fear, hope, angst, frustration, humor — all the messy emotions comprising the worthwhile chaos of the human experience. Stylistically, the songs take familiar Americana textures and bend them in surprising directions. The album draws from a wide spectrum of influences, ranging from folky psychedelia to subtle jazz and experimental indie-pop. This is what it sounds like when two musicians at the top of their craft share the same sandbox.

Recent release: Honey in My Heart, October 2019

Also check out: Violet Bell’s livestream concert series, every Thursday at noon eastern. You can catch it on Facebook or Youtube. (And if you go to Youtube, be sure to subscribe to their channel!)

Today we'd like to tell you about Taylor Ashton

We were already familiar with Taylor Ashton through his work with the Vancouver band Fish & Bird and a duo project with Courtney Hartman called Been On Your Side, but when we heard his first solo album recently (link below) we were completely hooked. The new record is inspired by the devastating, ecstatic, gritty, sexy decade of Ashton’s twenties, woven together through his 5- string banjo with the help of 18 different musicians from the Brooklyn music scene and all across the U.S. and Canada. This is an album that will grab you on the first listen and keep you coming back for more.

Recent release: The Romantic, February 2020

Also check out: Ashton is also a gifted visual artist, as evidenced by his sketchbook.

Today we'd like to tell you about Emma Charles.

Emma Charles is a young folk/pop singer-songwriter who grew up just down the road in Westport, and graduated from Berklee College of Music in Boston — but it somehow took her moving to Los Angeles, releasing an EP named Connecticut and a recommendation from a longtime favorite band, SHEL, for us to discover her music. Emma mixes "effortlessly beautiful vocals" (American Songwriter Magazine) that "flutter upwards serenely through the loneliness and darkness like a beam of radiant light" (LA Weekly) with "savvy lyricism and intuitive musicianship offering layers not always seen in contemporary mainstream music" (Popmatters). Even though we've only been listening a short time, Emma is quickly becoming one of our favorites! 

Recent release: "Connecticut," February 2020

Check out: A brand new single out today! "25" is quite infectious (we were singing along by the third listen) and tells an introspective story about the struggles of keeping a steady friendship.

Today we'd like to tell you about independent folk duo Paper Wings

Paper Wings is Wilhelmina Frankzerda and Emily Mann, west coast natives who found common ground in a love for the natural world; the strength and solitude of wilderness is a common theme in their writing. Paper Wings released their first self-titled album in 2017, and followed in 2019 with the "Clementine" — a stunning collection of all-original songs inspired by love, longing and self-reflection. Now based in Nashville, Paper Wings bring a striking vocal blend, inventive writing, and distinctive way of weaving traditional Appalachian sounds to their music. 

Recent release: "Clementine," May 2019

Check out: Follow Paper Wings on Facebook and Instagram to keep up with their terrific live streaming performances, and you can subscribe to their YouTube channel.

Today we'd like to tell you about Norwegian folk duo Darling West.

Lucinda Williams once described the music of Darling West (Mari and Tor Egil) as "Cosmic Folk" — an appropriate term, even as their newest material also leans into sunny West Coast landscapes. The Darling West sound regularly pays tribute to heroes such as Fleetwood Mac, Jackson Browne and The Byrds. Expect: Acoustic beauty, gorgeous harmonies and melodies that won’t let go. 

Recent release: "We'll Never Know Unless We Try," released Feb. 2020

Check out: The Darling West YouTube channel, where they are currently releasing a new video of a song every Friday. Be sure to subscribe while you're there!