DAVID HUCKFELT IS A MIDWESTERN FOLKSINGER WHO HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN THE INCREASINGLY DESPERATE FIGHT TO STOP THE CONSTRUCTION OF LINE 3, A TAR-SANDS PIPELINE THAT WOULD CUT ACROSS MINNESOTA. HIS NEW SINGLE, “BOOK OF LIFE,” IS DEDICATED TO “THE INDIGENOUS WATER PROTECTORS STANDING UP AND SPEAKING OUT FOR MOTHER EARTH ALL ACROSS TURTLE ISLAND.” - BILL MCKIBBEN, THE NEW YORKER

PIETA BROWN

The daughter of two preacher’s kids, Pieta Brown’s early upbringing in Iowa was in a rural outpost with no furnace, running water, or TV.  There, she was exposed to traditional and rural folk music through her father, Greg Brown, the now beloved Midwestern folk singer.  Later, while living with her mother in Birmingham, Alabama during her formative years, Pieta drew on and expanded these influences and began writing poems and composing instrumental songs on piano.  By the time she left home at 18 she had lived in at least 19 different houses and apartments between Iowa and Alabama. 

In her early 20's, after experiencing what she describes as "the songs calling,” Pieta started experimenting with the banjo and eventually picked up a 1930's Maybell arch-top guitar during a visit to her father's place and never looked back.  Emerging from a disjointed and distinctly 'bohemian' upbringing, Pieta began performing live and making independent recordings soon after teaching herself how to play guitar. "I grew up around a lot of musicians and artists living on the fringe, and have always felt most at home among them," Pieta says.  

Continually revealing new layers as both a songwriter and performer, Pieta is being recognized as one of modern Americana's true gems.  In recent years Pieta has released multiple highly critically acclaimed albums, with much attention being paid not only to her distinct sound and style, but also the power of her singing and songwriting, including fan favorite, Paradise Outlaw (2014 Red House, which Bon Iver master mind, Justin Vernon, called his “favorite recording made at our studio.”) Pieta has toured North America with Mark Knopfler, and toured various regions of the U.S., Australia and Canada with John Prine, Amos Lee, Brandi Carlisle, JJ Cale, Ani Difranco, Mavis Staples, and Calexico among others.  She has co-written songs with and made recent guest appearances on albums by Calexico, Amos Lee, and Iris Dement. In the last few years Pieta’s songs and music have been heard in various TV Shows and indie films including Everything Will Be Fine (Wim Wenders).  With the release of her  most recent album Freeway (September 2019, Righteous Babe) co-produced by Bon Iver drummer, S. Carey, followed by multiple experimental collaborations since with various artists including JT Bates, S.Carey, and Howe Gelb & The Colorist Orchestra, Pieta’s music and artistry continue to rise.

ERIK KOSKINEN Erik Koskinen is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, whose music is not categorized by sub-genres. Stylistically he is on his own. Influenced by roots music of the Americas and the world, the rhythmic integrity and musical tone is as important as the lyrical content and the artistic intent. Koskinen’s newest album, Burning the Deal is steeped in American roots traditions. Of Burning the Deal, he says, “It’s not only Americana music. I learned how to play blues music. I learned how to play country music, and how to play folk, bluegrass, jazz, whatever. I learned how to play American music.” The nine songs share a stripped-down, almost naked quality, but complexities lie just under their skin. Part of that depth can be attributed to the top-notch players Koskinen recruited: Greg Leisz (Jackson Browne, Beck, Joni Mitchell) on lap and pedal steel and mandolin, plus the rhythm section of drummer Jay Bellerose (Alison Krauss and Robert Plant, Willie Nelson) and bassist Jennifer Condos (Don Henley, Marc Cohn, Ray Lamontagne). As for how he managed to gather them together — twice — for recording sessions in Ojai, California, Koskinen quips, “In the music biz, you’re always one person away from knowing the president.” Burning the Deal has a moody, shadowy vibe — an occasionally unsettling sense that evil lurks a little too close by. You can hear its murky threat in the slinky, bayou-drenched minor-key drone thrumming under Leisz’s mandolin notes on “Down in the Factory,” or in the gut-bucket-blues meets second-linesyncopation of “Sell Out” — both of which would have been at home in a “True Blood” episode — or in the quiet whisper of “Crazy,” in which Koskinen sings, “It’s easy going crazy but it’s hard staying sane enough.” If something wicked this way comes, it might take the form of the protagonist in “Gun,” so down and out, he’s driven to commit a desperate act — and receives a punishment far more serious than the crime. It’s loosely based on the saga of a high-school friend whose third strike sent him to prison for life, Koskinen reveals, adding that the character in “Down in the Factory” — where they manufacture jealousy, apathy, gluttony, and anxiety — could be that guy’s brother. Maybe “my kind of music” is the kind that requires patience. Nowhere is that quality more evident than on “Ordinary Fool,” a gorgeous, slow shuffle that unwinds gently, its longing ache a gradual dawning. “I could have made a country record, but I don’t want to make a retro-sounding record,” he explains. “I like old music. I like old sounds, and I play old instruments through old amps. But I'm not trying to sound like a Chuck Berry record or a Waylon Jennings record.” No, Koskinen is not trying to sound like anyone else at all. He’s one of a kind. An American original.