Behold our last "At A Glance" video for the year! November's installment showcases two Barns debut acts in Trio Cavatina as part of Wolf Trap's acclaimed "Discovery Series," and local lounge jazz heroes, Chaise Lounge, led by film composer/guitarist Charlie Barnett and singer Marilyn Older. Rounding out the trio of featured acts is Girlyman, a NYC based folk-pop group with silky vocal harmonies to rival Crosby, Stills & Nash, Simon and Garfunkel or the Indigo Girls. Each group of musicians in this video are grounded in a very different tradition, but represent and deliver the highest quality of musicianship in their respective genre. You'll enjoy lush instrumentation, soaring vocals and a studious commitment to the craft of fine live performance. Take a look!
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Wolf Trap's Top Rated Albums of 2010
Don't worry, we won't give you 50 to sift through such is the trend of most major music publications, but we thought it'd be fun to poll our marketing department for their favorite albums of 2010, and then post for you to consider as possible holiday gifts for friends and loved ones. We're no Rolling Stone or NPR Music, but as a performing arts organization, we like to think we know what's up.
From Shana Langfur, Marketing Manager:
Arcade Fire, The Suburbs
Bad Books, Bad Books
Sufjan Stevens, The Age of Adz
Tallest Man on Earth, The Wild Hunt
Dr. Dog, Shame, Shame
Girl Talk, All Day
From Lainy Sadick, Marketing Director:
The National, High Violet
Tallest Man on Earth, The Wild Hunt
The Morning Benders, Big Echo
Arcade Fire, The Suburbs
From Matt Martz, Communications and Marketing Assistant
Matt & Kim, Sidewalks
Tallest Man on Earth, The Wild Hunt
Florence + The Machine, Lungs
Zac Brown Band, You Get What You Give
From Graham Binder, Assistant Director, Public Relations
LCD Soundsystem, This is Happening
Yeasayer, Odd Blood
Punch Brothers, Antifogmatic
Broken Social Scene, Forgiveness Rock Record
The National, High Violet
The Walkmen, Lisbon
The New Pornographers, Together
Arcade Fire, The Suburbs
Mumford and Sons, Sigh No More
Shooter Jennings, Black Ribbons
Obviously, we feel pretty strongly about the new records from Arcade Fire and Tallest Man on Earth, with The National as a strong runner up, so I'd encourage you to start there if you haven't already scooped those up.
If you have any recommendations of your own, please feel free to share! We're just a humble bunch here at Wolf Trap, and recognize that this by no means reflects a widespread opinion of best of 2010.
From Shana Langfur, Marketing Manager:
Arcade Fire, The Suburbs
Bad Books, Bad Books
Sufjan Stevens, The Age of Adz
Tallest Man on Earth, The Wild Hunt
Dr. Dog, Shame, Shame
Girl Talk, All Day
From Lainy Sadick, Marketing Director:
The National, High Violet
Tallest Man on Earth, The Wild Hunt
The Morning Benders, Big Echo
Arcade Fire, The Suburbs
From Matt Martz, Communications and Marketing Assistant
Matt & Kim, Sidewalks
Tallest Man on Earth, The Wild Hunt
Florence + The Machine, Lungs
Zac Brown Band, You Get What You Give
From Graham Binder, Assistant Director, Public Relations
LCD Soundsystem, This is Happening
Yeasayer, Odd Blood
Punch Brothers, Antifogmatic
Broken Social Scene, Forgiveness Rock Record
The National, High Violet
The Walkmen, Lisbon
The New Pornographers, Together
Arcade Fire, The Suburbs
Mumford and Sons, Sigh No More
Shooter Jennings, Black Ribbons
Obviously, we feel pretty strongly about the new records from Arcade Fire and Tallest Man on Earth, with The National as a strong runner up, so I'd encourage you to start there if you haven't already scooped those up.
If you have any recommendations of your own, please feel free to share! We're just a humble bunch here at Wolf Trap, and recognize that this by no means reflects a widespread opinion of best of 2010.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Jeff Tweedy at the Lincoln Theatre: The Wolf Trap Review
Jeff Tweedy exudes a different feel to me every time I see him, whether it be with Wilco, or in a solo acoustic setting as was the case last night at U Street's historic Lincoln Theatre. I think it's because with each subsequent performance that I witness, Tweedy seems more and more confident and aware of his precarious role as the reigning king of American folk-rock. Some buy into this school of thought, and some don't. I for one, am drinking the Kool-aid, despite a generally accepted decrease in proliferation and perhaps quality in comparison to the 90s and early aught's. He seems to be completely at peace with himself as a person and an artist, something that didn't come quite as easily to him a decade ago.
Tweedy was in fine spirits last night, despite a few hiccups during songs that were the most technically and lyrically difficult within his 21 song set. But he withheld any feelings of embarrassment from these moments, opting to embrace the imperfections with some playful audience banter. On his performance of "ELT" off of the Wilco album Summerteeth, "I had the capo in the wrong place. You guys are getting a flawless performance. I am really trying. Thank you very much for being so forgiving." Ten years ago, who knew what his reaction would have been? Far more self-deprecating I would guess.
The best moments of the show were the encore offerings of "At My Window Sad and Lonely" off of the Billy Bragg/Wilco project, Mermaid Avenue, "Passenger Side" from Wilco's A.M., and "California Stars", also from Mermaid Avenue, all three of which featured the talented lads from The Autumn Defense, a Wilco side-project of sorts fronted by John Stiratt and Pat Sansone. All three songs came off beautifully, and reminded me of Wilco circa 1995. A great night of music, albeit a little short...but maybe that's because the last two Wilco shows I saw were 3 hours +.
Setlist: 1) "Spiders (Kidsmoke)"2) "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart"3) "One Wing"4) "Via Chicago"5) "Remember the Mountain Bed"6) "Muzzle of Bees"7) "You Are Not Alone"8) "The Ruling Class"9) "Pieholden Suite"10) "How to Fight Loneliness"11) "I'll Fight"12) "Hummingbird"13) "Impossible Germany"14) "Jesus, Etc."15) "ELT"16) "I'm The Man Who Loves You"
Encore:17) "A Shot in the Arm"18) "At My Window, Sad and Lonely" (with Pat Sansone and John Stirratt)19) "Passenger Side" (with The Autumn Defense)20) "California Stars" (with The Autumn Defense)21) "Acuff Rose"
Tweedy was in fine spirits last night, despite a few hiccups during songs that were the most technically and lyrically difficult within his 21 song set. But he withheld any feelings of embarrassment from these moments, opting to embrace the imperfections with some playful audience banter. On his performance of "ELT" off of the Wilco album Summerteeth, "I had the capo in the wrong place. You guys are getting a flawless performance. I am really trying. Thank you very much for being so forgiving." Ten years ago, who knew what his reaction would have been? Far more self-deprecating I would guess.
The best moments of the show were the encore offerings of "At My Window Sad and Lonely" off of the Billy Bragg/Wilco project, Mermaid Avenue, "Passenger Side" from Wilco's A.M., and "California Stars", also from Mermaid Avenue, all three of which featured the talented lads from The Autumn Defense, a Wilco side-project of sorts fronted by John Stiratt and Pat Sansone. All three songs came off beautifully, and reminded me of Wilco circa 1995. A great night of music, albeit a little short...but maybe that's because the last two Wilco shows I saw were 3 hours +.
Setlist: 1) "Spiders (Kidsmoke)"2) "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart"3) "One Wing"4) "Via Chicago"5) "Remember the Mountain Bed"6) "Muzzle of Bees"7) "You Are Not Alone"8) "The Ruling Class"9) "Pieholden Suite"10) "How to Fight Loneliness"11) "I'll Fight"12) "Hummingbird"13) "Impossible Germany"14) "Jesus, Etc."15) "ELT"16) "I'm The Man Who Loves You"
Encore:17) "A Shot in the Arm"18) "At My Window, Sad and Lonely" (with Pat Sansone and John Stirratt)19) "Passenger Side" (with The Autumn Defense)20) "California Stars" (with The Autumn Defense)21) "Acuff Rose"
Thursday, December 2, 2010
2011 Grammy Nominations are In
And they're up! And now just a mere 73 days until the award ceremony itself, if you can wait that long. Per usual, we're seeing a few artists dominate across the board, particularly Lady Antebellum (which I don't know that much about), Lady Gaga (obviously), Eminem and Katy Perry. I always seem to be a little uneducated about the "Record of the Year", and "Album of the Year" nominees, mostly because I'm not super honed in on platinum selling pop artists - although this year I obsessively listened to Katy Perry's Teenage Dream for about 48 hours and now I can't ever chew bubble gum again. Truly excited for Arcade Fire and the explosive year they've had, with "Album of the Year" nominated, The Suburbs; and couldn't be prouder of Mumford & Sons and their grungy, yet sleek alt-pop masterpiece, Sigh No More, with a nod for "Best New Artist", and their single "Little Lion Man" for "Best Rock Song".
Several summer 2010 Wolf Trap artists picked up nominations, including Jeff Beck for Best Rock Album with Emotion and Commotion, and Best Rock Instrumental Performance with the track "Hammerhead;" Willie Nelson for Best Americana Album with Country Music; and Jackson Browne & David Lindley and Mary Chapin Carpenter in the same category of Best Contemporary Folk Album for Love Is Strange - En Vivo Con Tino, and The Age of Miracles, respectively. Bela Fleck also picked up another much deserved nod for Best Contemporary World Music Album with Throw Down Your Heart , Africa Sessions Part 2: Unreleased Tracks.
We're currently in the process of booking summer 2011 with three pending announcements in the winter/spring, so there's a strong possibility we'll have a few additional GRAMMY nominated artists as part of the lineup. In the meantime, you've got a lot of good music to process!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)