GREAT LAKE SWIMMERS
Great Lake Swimmers have toured extensively in Canada, the United States, Europe and Australia since 2004, and has shared the stage with musical acts as diverse as Feist, Andrew Bird, Vashti Bunyan, Final Fantasy, Akron/Family, Jon-Rae Fletcher, Album Leaf, Crooked Fingers, Jason Collett, Amy Millan, and Joel Plaskett Emergency. The songs of Great Lake Swimmers have appeared on numerous compilations alongside such artists as Sufjan Stevens, Hot Chip, Broken Social Scene, Junior Boys, Mark Kozelek, Hayden, Beulah, Joss Stone, Hawksley Workman, Montag, Rheostatics, Tobin Sprout, Richard Buckner, and The Shins.
Great Lake Swimmers have been compared to Nick Drake, Iron and Wine, Red House Painters, and "After the Gold Rush"-era Neil Young. They were awarded the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Galaxie Rising Star Award in March 2005 and were voted Favourite Folk/Roots Artist at the 2004 Canadian Independent Music Awards.
THE PARLOUR SUITE
The Parlour Suite, husband and wife Joel and Inga Roberts, released the Welcome to the Garden Party EP in 2010. The EP consists of five songs, all authentic vintage pop—think She & Him meets Daniel Rossen in the early 1960s. And the term “authentic” isn’t used loosely. It’s clear that Joel and Inga live and breathe this stuff. A little bird told me that they even use a TASCAM tape deck to record. Joel and Inga are two old souls married to each other, and making music that sounds like it’s from another generation.
THE PINES
In a world swimming in singer/songwriters, it's difficult to rise above the masses and create a truly unique sound that captures ears and stimulates the mind. The Pines are a band that has taken on this feat, honing their musical craft to near perfection with a sound that wavers on the edge of traditional acoustic/roots music, but embraces the nuances of today's indie-rock and blues music. Meeting in a Mexican barrio in Arizona, fellow Iowans David Huckfelt and Benson Ramsey began playing music together, forming The Pines.
