Ramblin' Jack Elliot is a National
Medal of The Arts recipient for his contribution to
American folk music, a five-time Grammy nominee and a
two-time Grammy winner. He has recorded forty albums;
wrote one of the first trucking songs, Cup of Coffee,
recorded by Johnny Cash; championed the works of new
singer-songwriters, from Bob Dylan and Kris
Kristofferson to Tim Hardin; became a founding member
of Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue; and continued
the life of the traveling troubadour influencing Jerry
Jeff Walker, Guy Clark, Tom Russell The Grateful Dead
and countless others.
At seventy-seven, Ramblin' Jack is still on the road,
still seeking those people, places, songs and stories
that are hand-crafted, wreaking of wood and canvas,
cowhide and forged metal. You'll find him in the
sleek lines of a long haul semi-truck, in the rigging
of an old sailing ship, in the smell of a fine leather
saddle.
Ramblin' Jack Elliot closes out The Tenth Brooklyn
Country Music Festival at The Bell House, Sunday,
August 23, 2015 at 9pm.
Friday,
August 21, 2015,
The 10th Brooklyn Country Music Festival, Day Two
Julia Haltigan
Friday, August 21, 2015
7pm, Frontier Room
Julia
Haltigan - A blonde bombshell with a
rebel spirit, Julia Haltigan embodies the classic
grit and style of the Lower East Side’s insurgent
nature. Clad in leather, Julia’s dominating stage
presence mesmerizes crowds. She uses her booming and
soulful voice to draw the audience into her
seductive embrace.
Born just off the Bowery and raised on the infamous
Ludlow Street, Julia Haltigan is bold and
unremitting. She’s a rare native New Yorker that can
be found haunting the streets of a long lost grungy
Empire City. Interview Magazine agrees, saying
“Julia Haltigan’s timeless voice, look and persona
make her something of a period piece. Her
effervescent performances are also known to entrance
entire crowds”. Julia spent her childhood going to
rooftop parties at the Chelsea Hotel with her dad
and spending her days at the iconic Sixth Street
Specials motorcycle shop where she learned to ride
before most people learned to drive. Its these
unique experiences growing up in NY in the ‘80’s
that make up the core of the young artist she is
today.
Her critically acclaimed 2012 album “My Green Heart”
was followed up by her EP “Magneto”. The success of
these two albums earned her a spot performing in the
ASCAP Millenium showcase at the Kennedy Center. Her
life-long love affair with motorcycles drew the
attention of Discovery Channel’s producers who
featured her on the hit show “Cafe Racer”. Julia
stole the show at Chicago’s Motoblot festival,
toured with The Waterboys and sang alongside Justin
Townes Earle on the David Letterman Show. She’s
opened for musical icons like Judy Collins and Steve
Earle and has also shared the stage with Norah
Jones, Montgomery Gentry, Gegory Alan Isokov, The
Bogmen, Rhett Miller, Nicole Atkins, Jack Antonoff,
Lonnie Holley, Cory Chisel and more.
In addition to her solo project, Julia has teamed up
with Scarlett Johansson, Kendra Morris and Holly
Miranda to form “the Singles” who were produced by
TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek. Julia has also been
moonlighting as the slinky Jessica Rabbit inspired
jazz crooner ‘Vivian Fairchild’ in the off-Broadway
hit “Sleep No More”.
Your Ex-Girlfriends
Friday, August 21, 2015
8pm, Main Event Hall
Your
Ex-Girlfriends- We are Your
Ex-Girlfriends, an all-girl, all-blonde, country
cover band based in New York City. Our sound is a
cocktail of vocal harmonies, guitars, fiddle, piano,
bass, steel, and drums, and we cover everything from
Garth Brooks and Dolly Parton to Big Mama Thornton
and Fine Young Cannibals, taking clever, sassy turns
on familiar favorites. Our sound is high-heeled
honky tonk–energetically country, but with plenty of
bluegrass, blues, and good ol' rock and roll thrown
into the mix.
The band pairs cowboy swagger and outlaw charm with
Barbie looks and uptown class, and has a large and
devoted NYC following. Your Ex-Girlfriends have
played packed shows at Highline Ballroom, Hill
Country, the Bell House, the Cutting Room, Mercury
Lounge, and Rockwood Music Hall, and are also
available for private events. We treat every show
like a party, and with a variety of special guests
bringing mandolins, dobros, harmonicas, and even a
pair of spoons, spending an evening with Your
Ex-Girlfriends has never been so much fun.
“Your Ex-Girlfriends put a rock ‘n’ roll spin on
country music classics....these gals also push
audience gender expectations, taking cowboy songs
and cranking them to 11.”
— Max Yaeger, Brooklyn Paper
"A seriously butt-kicking, foot-stomping country
band, with a name as memorable as they look and
sound."
— Gary Field
Aron Blue & The Bootleggers
Friday, August 21, 2015
830pm, Frontier Room
Aron Blue
& The Bootleggers - Aron Blue and
the Bootleggers rock out, honkytonk style-- a little
Loretta Lynn, a little AC/DC, with some Woody
Guthrie thrown in on the side. Alone and with the
Bootleggers, she has performed in Brooklyn and the
East Village at venues such as The Stone, The Way
Station, Jalopy Theater, Branded Saloon, and
Parkside Lounge. She’s also performed at Montreal’s
fabulous L’escalier.
"Rounding out the lineup are Aron Blue and the
Bootleggers, a honky-tonk/rock hybrid. They’ve
written Brooklyn-themed songs any local audience
member can understand, like one with the lyric 'You
know the G train, it won’t take you home till you’re
almost gone.' Good to know, considering the Bell
House is a few blocks from the G." - New York Times
Andy Friedman &
The Other Failures
Friday,
August 21, 2015
9pm, Main Event Hall
Andy
Friedman & The Other Failures - Over
the course of the past decade, Andy Friedman has
garnered a reputation for writing "achingly profound
lyrics to brooding country-folk numbers that put him
almost in the same league as Tom Waits, Lou Reed, or
Bob Dylan” (popmatters.com). He has performed
on many of the nation’s premier stages, and has been
a guest on NPR’s Mountain Stage, Nashville’s Music
City Roots, and XM’s Bob Edwards Show.
Also an illustrator, cartoonist, and writer, his
work has been published in The New Yorker, The Paris
Review, Rolling Stone, GQ, The New York Times,
Esquire, Playboy, and TIME, among others. For
this appearance, Friedman will reunite with members
of his original band, The Other Failures, to perform
his first album, “Taken Man,” in its entirety.
Andy Friedman & The Other Failures have not
performed together since 2009.
Gangstagrass
Friday,
August 21, 2015
10pm, Main Event Hall
Gangstagrass
- There are only three bands that can tame a
mountain lion just by playing. Gangstagrass is one
of them. Gangstagrass is also the other two of them.
When you armwrestle Bigfoot, don't win. And for
god's sake don't cheat.
Gangstagrass is a dirty fightin', gator wrestlin',
foot stompin' bluegrass-hip-hop project of Brooklyn
based producer Rench, who has spent the last decade
making gritty, soulful country hip-hop music that
you will actually like.
Yeah, Gangstagrass did the theme song to Justified.
Yeah, Rench and T.O.N.E-z got nominated for an Emmy
for it. Yeah, this is real bluegrass pickers and
real emcees making music. And yeah, we do it live
too. (Photo by Michael Bush)
Friday,
August 21, 2015
Susquehanna Industrial
Tool & Die Co.
11pm, Frontier Room
Susquehanna
Industrial Tool & Die Co. is the
little trio with the big hillbilly sound. Well,
their name's big at the very least. And, for nearly
three years now, the "SIT & Die" boys, as
they're known, have been producing a quality-built
"Ballads, Boogies, & Blues", as says their
motto, that's made the bottles bounce on the tables
of some of New York City's swellest joints.
Consisting of singing accompanied by the rhythm and
"take-off" guitars and doghouse bass, the boys offer
up a mix of not only original compositions, but also
those of Rhythm & Blues, "rock-a-billy", and
Country & Western artists that they just happen
to like. They do their best to really put on a show,
dress sharp as a tack, and are rarely (okay, never)
at a loss for words when faced with an audience. In
the end, won't you kindly consider SIT & Die Co.
to satisfy your most exacting hillbilly music needs?