The War and Treaty. The name itself represents the pull between trauma and tranquility, music inspired by darkness and despair that ultimately finds a higher spiritual purpose. A rising act in the Americana field, are a married duo comprised of Michael and Tanya Trotter, which have received comparisons to Ike and Tina Turner. Separately and together, they’ve tried on numerous stylistic identities and artistic approaches. Long before she met Michael, Tanya (nee Blount) dueted with Lauryn Hill in Sister Act 2 and recorded sultry, mid-’90s R&B slow jams in a Toni Braxton vein. Michael sang in church, and during a tour of duty in Iraq, was dealt the singular sacred duty of paying tribute to fallen comrades in song, before striking out as a smoothly seductive R&B singer-songwriter. After teaming up in life and music, the pair dabbled in sleek soul updates under their combined surnames. But they also drew inspiration from voices embraced as touchstones across generations and genres — Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Johnny Cash and Nina Simone among them — and ultimately settled into a rootsy aesthetic animated by the range of their musical experiences.
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Tag: Americana music
Granite Grind Presents: Dana & Susan Robinson
From Cabot, Vermont – Americana-roots and folk duo, Dana and Susan Robinson combine vivid, songwriting and storytelling, with fiddle tunes, banjo grooves, elegant melodies, and rich harmony singing.
Drawing upon experiences of more than 20 years of touring, Dana and Susan craft a performance that conveys the mystery and wonders of their journey. Their unique blend of original songwriting and traditional Appalachian music, bring to their performances a deep understanding of America’s musical heritage.
Their compositions have been featured in Ken Burns’s “The National Parks, America’s Best Idea” and “The Dust Bowl.”
A native of the Pacific Northwest, Dana relocated to New England where he discovered both a thriving songwriters scene and the deep well of traditional mountain music. In the early 1980s, Dana settled in northern Vermont and built a house “off the grid” on 30 acres near the Canadian border. There he founded a popular bakery, café and music venue. Dana launched into full-time touring after the release of his 1994 debut CD, Elemental Lullabye, and after receiving a request to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York City for Putumayo’s Shelter benefit project.
Susan grew up with her dad’s jazz big band rehearsing in the basement in Manchester, Vermont and learned classical piano as a child. As an adult she turned to oboe and Scottish fiddle. After Susan and Dana met in 2002, she took up old-time banjo and learned from the banjo-greats in and around Asheville, North Carolina. Since 2003 Dana and Susan have performed hundreds of concerts across the United States, Great Britain and Canada.
“Exquisite music – physical and spiritual, contemporary and ancient, up to its eyeballs in mud and transcendence. Musicians like Dana Robinson don’t grow on trees!” — Music Upstream
“Rural America explored with elegant simplicity. Their music and cleanly poetic songwriting bring to mind the great folksingers of our times.”
— Asheville Citizen-Times
“Many songwriters have been heralded as modern day Woody Guthries or keepers of the American rural spirit, but that mantle might be better entrusted to musicians like Dana Robinson who embody both the heart and soul of folk music.” — Dirty Linen
Zoe & Cloyd at St. Kieran Arts Center
A musical collaboration that demands to be heard.” – Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine and “Favorite Musical Picks of 2017″ – Lisa Snedeker, Huffington Post,
Zoe & Cloyd will be performing at St. Kieran Community Center for the Arts on Saturday, March 17, at 7 pm. Tickets, $12 for adults and $8 for those under 18, are available on line (www.stkieranarts.org) for a small additional fee, at the arts center office and at the door on the evening of the show.
Zoe & Cloyd spring from deep roots in American music. Founding members of the acclaimed Americana trio, Red June, and long-time veterans of the Asheville, NC music scene, Natalya Zoe Weinstein and John Cloyd Miller released their second full-length album, Eyes Brand New, in spring of 2017. Eyes Brand New showcases the breadth of their collective musical spirit, seamlessly combining original folk, country, old-time and bluegrass with sincerity and zeal. Zoe & Cloyd’s debut recording, Equinox (2015), met with high acclaim and the pair has continued to gain momentum with a 1st place win at the prestigious FreshGrass Festival Duo Contest along with performances at MerleFest, Music City Roots and more.