American Roots Music Festival

On Mardi Gras morning, your eyes may feast on the intricate and elaborate beadwork of the Indians as they dance down the street, but the first thing you’ll hear when they make their way toward you is the back line, known as “the rumble”. Featuring seven GRAMMY-nominated musicians, The Rumble is more than just a band—it’s an opportunity to be immersed in a wholly unique facet of New Orleans culture. Composed of Second Chief Joseph Boudreaux Jr. of the Golden Eagles, trumpeter Aurélien Barnes, trombonist José Maize Jr., bassist TJ Norris, guitarist Ari Teitel, keyboardist Andriu Yanovski, and drummer Trenton O’Neal, the group fuses iconic New Orleans funk in the vein of The Meters and The Neville Brothers—but updated, modern and vibrant befitting the next generation—with electrifying brass and the singular visual splendor of the Black Masking carnival tradition. 

The Rumble’s debut album, “Live at the Maple Leaf” , received a GRAMMY nomination for Best Regional Roots Album  2024. Their live show is a symphony of rich color and propulsive sound, with each member sharing vocal duties and engaging the audience in the classic Mardi Gras Indian-style call-and-response chanting. The group pays homage to trailblazers like Wild Magnolias and Golden Eagles, both of which featured the vocal stylings of Boudreaux’s father, Monk Boudreaux. The Rumble continues the fight to preserve the legacies and traditions of the community for the next generation while bringing new layers of depth to their live performance. The Rumble provides audiences with not only a top-tier musical event, but a chance to participate in a culture that, while deeply rooted in centuries-old tradition, is thriving and evolving through the active work of this next generation of bold and passionate culture-bearers.

Oh He Dead is a study in contradictions. The D.C. band sounds as smooth and lux as leather, but there’s also a levity there, like a feather in flight. They’re not afraid to crack each other up with a crude joke or an impression — and their shows are basically one big hug. Dark and light, pain and joy, the band is best summed up by the origin of their name, which was coined by frontwoman CJ Johnson. When asked what happened to a cheating boy who was shot by his lover in a song of hers, she responded bluntly: “Oh, he dead.” And that’s how a legend is born.

Those contrasts and contradictions are ever more evident on their third studio album, Ugly, out August 23 on Wally Baba Records. A suite of songs that encompasses everything from death to new love, the album acts as a kind of foil to their 2023 release, Pretty. A poppy, polished affair, Pretty is the flipside of Ugly, which Johnson describes as “your insides — whatever you write in your journal at 4:00 a.m. Homemade, raw, acoustic, sexy and messy.”

The origins of Oh He Dead run deep — and they’re forged from Newbegin and Johnson’s years-long relationship, which started when the former taught Johnson in high school history and musical theater. “Whether as Rizzo in Grease or Maureen in Rent, she was just a forcefield. By the time she graduated I’m pretty sure the whole school knew she was going to be a rock star of sorts,” Newbegin says. The band rounded out over the ensuing years, adding Alex Salser (guitar), Adam Ashforth (drums),  Piano Whitman (keys),  John Daise (bass), and Colin Sidley (bass).

Mixed and mastered by Jimmy Mansfield, the record was a true labor of love, with late nights in the barn spent tweaking and twisting the songs to the band’s will. “Ugly is not meant to be just sad. All the songs are about the beauty of the darkness that leads to more light,” Johnson says. Yin and yang, birth and death, beauty and ugliness, Oh He Dead straddles worlds — all while keeping your feet moving until gravity wins out. Here’s the next chapter of an epic tale.

The music of Asheville, North Carolina based outfit Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters is nuanced, bringing insight and wit to the stories Platt tells through songwriting. Lyrically driven, the band’s country roots music often inspires introspection, whether it be about life on the road, heartache or hope.

There is an empathetic and charming wit ingrained in Platt’s songwriting. She has a knack for accessing a deep well of emotion and applying it to her story-telling, whether she is writing from her own experiences or immersing herself into the melody of emotions in another person’s life.

Performing along with Platt, The Honeycutters are Matt Smith (pedal steel and electric guitars), Rick Cooper (bass/vocals), Evan Martin (drums/vocals), and Kevin Williams (keys/vocals).

For over two decades, Rebecca Haviland has been captivating audiences with her powerful vocals and introspective songwriting. As the powerhouse frontwoman of Whiskey Heart, alongside renowned musicians like Chris Anderson (Martin Sexton), Kenny Shaw (Dispatch), Todd Caldwell (Crosby, Stills & Nash) and Nicky Barbato, Haviland effortlessly fuses Roots Rock, Soul, and Americana.

A native New Yorker, Haviland’s musical roots run deep, sparked by her grandparents, who were professional musicians in Westchester’s vibrant supper club scene in the 1950’s. “Their house was a musical sanctuary,” she recalls, where impromptu family jam sessions lit the spark of her musical passion. 

After high school, Haviland pursued music studies and interned at Acme Studios in Mamaroneck, New York. There, studio owner Peter Denenberg (Deep Purple, The Spin Doctors) discovered her talent and offered her the chance to record an EP. “That single experience changed the course of my life,” says Haviland. Her debut gig at The Bitter End in New York City—a venue where Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan also began—marked the start of her enduring career.

Whiskey Heart’s 2013 debut album garnered awards in the International Songwriting Competition and Unsigned Only Competition. In 2018, they released Bright City Lights, produced by Don DiLego (Jesse Malin, Hollis Brown), which Paste Magazine praised as “hauntingly beautiful.” The album’s singles, including “Bright City Lights” and “You and I,” received significant attention, with the latter’s video earning an International Songwriting Competition nomination.

In 2019, Haviland and Whiskey Heart recorded two live albums at the iconic Sun Studio in Memphis, featuring original songs and covers like John Prine’s “Angel From Montgomery.” Their 2022 holiday album, A Holiday to Remember, released on Five and Dime Records, showcased both classic and original holiday tunes.

But Haviland’s impact extends beyond the stage; for over a decade, she has nurtured the next generation of musicians as a professor at Purchase College’s Music Conservatory, where she shares her industry insights and inspires students to push their creative boundaries.

Currently, Haviland and Whiskey Heart are finalizing their new album with producer Paul Loren. Set for a 2025 release, the album will include ten original tracks, with the first single “Monday Night” dropping on September 13th, 2024. The EP Late Nights is scheduled for November 15th, 2024. Drawing inspiration from icons like Aretha Franklin and Linda Ronstadt and current artists like Brandi Carlile and Jason Isbell, Haviland continues to create music that resonates deeply with audiences. “I love that I get to keep doing this,” she says. “I can’t wait to hit the road and bring this new music to life in 2025.”

Since 2011, progressive acoustic band The Barefoot Movement has been recording and touring internationally, winning the 2014 IBMA momentum award, and releasing three studio albums as well as a live album, a holiday album, two EP’s, and a covers collection.  They’ve been a tight knit group of four, with a loyal fan base in the bluegrass world.  But when the pandemic brought their momentum to a halt, the four-piece ensemble began to fragment, with bandmates moving in different directions during the forced hiatus. 

The Barefoot Movement co-founders and married couple Noah Wall and Tommy Norris found themselves facing a decision in regard to the band; to call it quits, or to bring it through a renaissance and find a new way forward.  “Tommy and I started this band with a vision to be the ‘Fleetwood Mac’ of bluegrass”, explains Wall “in the sense that it would be a true four-piece band with multiple lead singers…I never talked publicly about Tommy and I being a couple, because I wanted to give every member we recruited their own identity within our band, and it wasn’t just about Tommy and I, that wasn’t important.”  

But the change turned into a new beginning for Wall and Norris, who are taking the opportunity to step out as the band’s front people, and further explore the possibilities of what The Barefoot Movement could be.  “It feels like the end of that Fleetwood Mac dream, but it has also challenged Tommy and me to get comfortable with sharing ourselves, and all of the different influences that we share both within and outside of Bluegrass. Historically, the songs we’ve recorded were primarily mine and Tommy’s, but co-arranged by whatever members we had at the time, so that had a big influence on which songs we chose to work up. But now that it’s back to just the two of us, I think we are finally ready to tell our story.”

Norris and Wall met in high school in Granville County, North Carolina, where Wall was involved in theater and also played the fiddle.  Norris had a rock band, and asked Wall to sing with them.  “I said no”, she laughs, “I was just too busy at the time!”.  But when Norris later brought a guitar to English class and performed as part of a school project, Wall was immediately taken by his abilities.  “I wrote him a seven-page letter begging him to play music with me”, she says.  Thus, the original barefoot movement was born.

Years and many life experiences later, the couple has found themselves right back at their beginnings; exploring the music they can make together as a duo, and with a hired band behind them.  The result is the triumphant “Let It Out”, a collection of original songs penned and performed by Wall and Norris, joined by many friends and guests, including former bandmates Katie Blomarz (bass), Alex Conerly (guitar), and current touring guitarist Ben Howington.