They’ll be joining us at the 48th LEAF Festival on May 9-12 in beautiful Black Mountain, NC (just outside of Asheville) to showcase, network and compete in the sixth annual LEAF Festival Singer-Songwriter Showcase & Competition, presented by NewSong Music.
Cat Terrones – San Pedro, CA
Demos Papadimas – Warren, OH
Grant Maloy Smith – Kingston, RI
The Good Graces (Kim Ware) – Atlanta, GA
Krista Shows – Candler, NC
Kristen J. Lloyd – Midway, UT
Parker Ainsworth – Venice, CA
Syd Caldera – Brooklyn, NY
On behalf of everyone at LEAF Community Arts and NewSong Music, THANK YOU to all the outstanding songwriters who entered your original music to this year’s program. Your songs and your dedication to your craft continue to inspire us all.
Save 20% this weekend when submitting to the 2019 LEAF Festival Singer-Songwriter Competition.
This weekend is a GREAT time to submit your original music to the sixth annual LEAF Festival Singer-Songwriter Competition, presented by NewSong Music, presented by NewSong Music.
Now through Monday night (Apr 8 11:59 PM EDT), we’re offering 20% off the regular submission fee for this year’s competition.
To save some your hard earned cash, enter discount code LEAF19FLASH when entering your songs on our submission platform.
NewSong Music and the LEAF Festival announce the 6th Annual LEAF Singer-Songwriter Competition.
Friday, February 29. (Asheville, NC) – LEAF Community Arts (LEAF) and NewSong Music are pleased to announce the launch of the 6th annual LEAF Festival Singer-Songwriter Competition.
With a mission to identify and celebrate exceptional performers and songwriters from across North America, the competition aims to bring some of the continent’s most accomplished emerging artists to showcase, network and compete at the 48th LEAF Festival, which takes place May 9-12, 2019. Festival headliners include India Arie, Shovels and Rope and the War and Treaty.
The LEAF Festival Competition is accepting original song submissions now through Thursday, April 11, with discounted ‘Early Bird’ submissions ending Wednesday, March 13.
Judges will select eight finalists from the pool of entries, who will perform in the live showcase and competition finals at the Spring LEAF Festival on Saturday, May 11, 2019. A panel of music industry judges there will select the overall winner of the competition.
2018 NewSong Presents: LEAF Festival Competition winner Carly Taich
The GRAND PRIZE winner will be awarded a paid, featured performance (including lodging & accommodations) at the Fall 2019 LEAF Festival, held October 17-20 in Black Mountain, NC (near Asheville). The winner will also advance to perform and compete later this year in the live performance finals of the 17th annual, international NewSong Music Performance & Songwriting Competition.
We love keeping you up-to-date on all the great shows, releases and collaborations that are in store this year for the ever-growing and talented community of NewSong artists.
These performing songwriters live and perform across the continent and beyond, and their work spans multiple genres. To keep track of it all, we’ve put together a list of shows, album releases and other happenings that we think you should be paying attention to this week.
1. 2018 NewSong grand prize winner mel bryant to perform at Sundance ASCAP Music Cafe
2018 Grand Prize winner Mel Bryant will travel to Park City, Utah to showcase in the Sundance Film Festival’s esteemed Sundance ASCAP Music Café on Thursday, January 31 and Friday, February 1.
From Mel: “Post-NewSong, the band and I have been really invigorated with a new excitement about the future and our upcoming new music releases. We are really stoked to get to Park City and perform at Sundance. What I’m most looking forward to is meeting the fellow ASCAP Music Café artists and hearing their sets, connecting with them and exploring the Sundance Festival. We got a bunch of tickets for screenings that we’re really excited about. I studied media composition at the Frost School of Music, so music and movies have always been a very big part of my life.”
We’ll be doing a ‘Facebook Live’ webcast of her two performances from our Facebook page. Both shows begin at 2 PM MST / 4 PM EST.
2018 finalist Suzie Brown will perform at Nashville’s City Winery on Monday, January 28 at 7PM with Zoe Sky Jordan. The Nashville-based singer-songwriter is also an Advanced Heart Failure/Heart Transplant cardiologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. After years of working hard for success in the medical field, Brown discovered a relentless pull towards music that has now yielded five albums, a succession of songwriting awards, featured placement of her music at retailers like Starbucks and the Gap, and invitations to TEDMED and other conferences around the country to speak about finding a vulnerability through music that makes her a better doctor.
Learn more about Suzie Brown and her upcoming shows on her website.
The Bluegrass Situation premiered Rachael Kilgour’s newest video, “Game Changer,” off her latest album.
In Their Words: “After my divorce I took a long time to think about what kind of person I wanted to be and how best to share that self with another human. I obsessively deconstructed our ideas of romance and relationship and tried to pinpoint what exactly made a connection a healthy one. I met my current partner after a few years of living a fulfilling single life and was heartened to find someone who shared my sense of cynicism. With equal portions of self-awareness, hope and caution, we forged a relationship I have grown very fond of.” — Rachael Kilgour
4. Alexa Rose @ Isis music Hall (Asheville, NC) Thurs. 2/7
Alexa Rose, a finalist in the 2018 LEAF Competition and performer in the upcoming “NewSong in Nashville” performance showcase, will perform on Thursday, Feb. 7 at Isis Music Hall in Asheville, NC. Moving deftly between complex dexterity and heart-tugging familiarity, Rose achieves a sound that pushes gently alongside the bright vocal experimentalism of Joni Mitchell and Joanna Newsom while maintaining the brassy attitude and simple refrains that run straight through American roots music from mountain ballads to rock n roll.
Learn more about Alexa Rose and her upcoming shows on her website.
2018 NewSong Music Competition Grand Prize Winner, Mel Bryant and the Mercy Makers, will perform at the 2019 Sundance ASCAP Music Café on Thursday Jan. 31 and Friday Feb. 1.
All are invited to watch the live webcast of the performance. Both shows start promptly at 2 pm MST (5 PM EST). Join the Facebook Live event here.
About the Sundance ASCAP Music Cafe:
Whether it’s enhancing drama, building atmosphere, or underscoring an unforgettable moment, music is essential to the movies. The Sundance ASCAP Music Café honors the love affair between music and film with eight days of performances from artists and songwriters you need to know (and some you already know). Stop by to discover some great tunes and find a collaborator for your next project. Courtesy of your friends at ASCAP, home to more than 690,000 of the world’s greatest music creators, and proud partners with the Sundance Film Festival for 21 years.
The Sundance ASCAP Music Café takes place at 751 Main Street, Park City, UT. It is open to all Festival credential holders (21 and older).
Mel Bryant & the Mercy Makers are a Nashville based indie rock band comprised of lovers and friends. Led by bassist and songwriter Mel Bryant, they exude an infectious energy that is equal parts powerful and sensitive, groovy and grungy, memorable and true. The four musicians run their own recording studio, Electric Church Records, and work as the backing band for various local artists. They are currently self producing their debut album, to be released in Spring 2019. Their debut single, “In My Head,” can be heard on all major music outlets.
NewSong is proud to announce our first ever “NewSong in Nashville” performance showcase on March 7 at The Listening Room Cafe in Nashville. Four past finalists from the LEAF Festival Competition will reunite for a night of songwriting and performances.
Performers include Beth Snapp, who recorded her latest album, Don’t Apologize (2018), with NewSong Recordings; Carly Taich, who won the 2018 LEAF Competition and went on to be a top three finalist in the NewSong Songwriting Competition in December; Nashville-based duo My One and Only; and Asheville, NC-based songwriter Alexa Rose. See below for artist bios.
Singer-songwriter Beth Snapp might be considered pop infused roots, but her appeal has little to do with the box of a genre. It’s a connection. She flits around and between folk, bluegrass, pop, early R&B and jazz to create a unique sound with one purpose – to serve a story. Snapp recorded her latest album, Don’t Apologize, with NewSong Recordings at Echo Mountain Studios in Asheville, NC.
North Carolina-based musician, Carly Taich, is tough to pin down. Just when you think you’ve got her figured out, she takes off in a new direction with her hand out-stretched, waving for you to follow. She may be quick but she’d never leave you behind. This patient yet resolute nature has been revealed, like most innovative things, to be a strength for the seraphic songwriter. She holds a magnifying glass to her own soul before turning it on others. She has an unexpected, laissez-faire way of tackling the human experience, then holding it with humor and grace as if to always be secretly saying to her audience, “You are not alone.”
My One And Only gathers it’s strength from Southern-Soul mixed with Curious-Grit. They’ve honed their sound in individual crucibles on stage, TV, radio, solo recording, engineering and producing. The merger brings true-to-life lyrics that bid you to wander through hidden scenes in their lives – to find heart, emotions, the real. Blanket the raw with hollow-body guitars and home-grown harmonies, and My One And Only’s music cuts through. My One And Only released their debut album “The Past Year”, produced by Grammy Award-nominated Andrija Tokic (Alabama Shakes,) and features all original songs by the duo – husband and wife Benjamin and Kassie Wilson. They have played stages throughout the U.S., as well as touring in Uganda, Africa, and have both graced the stage of the famed Ryman Auditorium in their hometown of Nashville.
Alexa Rose has the rare ability to find strikingly original melodies that nevertheless sound like they must have existed for a long time, stored away maybe in the ether of creativity, self-evident and awaiting discovery. Moving deftly between complex dexterity and heart-tugging familiarity, Rose achieves a sound that pushes gently alongside the bright vocal experimentalism of Joni Mitchell and Joanna Newsom while maintaining the brassy attitude and simple refrains that run straight through American roots music from mountain ballads to rock n roll.
No Depression’s annual year-end readers poll is now open for voting, and this year’s list includes a handful of albums from some of our favorite NewSong artists, past and present, with two releases from our own NewSong Recordings label:
Idaho from DAVID ROBERT KING (2017 NewSong Music Competition finalist)
White Tiger from Ana Egge (2007 NewSong Music Competition finalist)
Lots of great releases featured in this poll, so head over to nodepression.com and cast a vote for your favorites!
From No Depression:
1) Select up to 10 albums from the list by clicking the checkboxes. (You don’t need to rank your picks.)
2) Choose carefully! Only one ballot per person is allowed.
3) When you’re finished, be sure to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the ballot and click SUBMIT.
Please submit your ballot by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday, Dec. 14, 2018. We’ll report the results at nodepression.com soon after the polling closes, so stay tuned!
*** Click here to take the 2018 No Depression Year-End Readers Poll ***
From the artist’s bio: Alex Wong’s curiosity has a varied appetite, and he’s always fed it well. A steady diet of projects as artist, producer, composer, and fittingly, as chef, has taught him that the connections between seemingly separate disciplines can be a source of inspiration rather than distraction. Perhaps this understanding stems from his synesthesia, a rare neurological condition where the brain perceives relationships between unrelated senses. Alex sees sounds and hears colors. What a doctor might deem peculiar, his creative mind appreciates as a gift: this multi-sensory approach allows him to find magic in unexpected connections.
Following those connections has rarely led Alex in a straight line, but it has led him to a Latin GRAMMY-nomination (Miguel Bose), song placements in film, television (One Tree Hill, The Lincoln Lawyer, The Last Song) and major ad campaigns (Google, Aquafina), as well as production credits with Delta Rae (Big Machine), Vienna Teng (Universal), Elizabeth and the Catapult (Compass) and Ari Hest (Columbia), among others. It has led him around the globe, to perform at festivals like Coachella and Outside Lands, arenas in Mexico City and theaters in Europe and Japan. Read full bio on Alex’s website.
We asked Alex some questions about his songwriting process and what it means to be a NewSong finalist. To purchase tickets for the Dec. 15 event at Isis Music Hall, visit our ticketing page.
What does it mean to you to be selected as a NewSong finalist, and what do you hope to get out of the experience?
Being selected as a NewSong finalist is especially meaningful to me because it’s the first time I’ve put music out under my own name. I’ve been really lucky to have had a career making music as a collaborator, band member and as a writer/producer in support of other artists, but fear always held me back from releasing music under my own name. Even when I put a solo album out over 6 years ago, I used a moniker (A City On A Lake) because I wasn’t comfortable using my name.
I realized I’d grown up learning to hide … as a minority kid growing up in suburban U.S., we were taught to fit in to white culture and downplay our cultural identities. As a drummer, I learned my place was in the back of the band and that writing songs and being out front was a job for someone else. It’s been a long path to try and re-write that narrative, to stand in my own space as an artist and to let myself truly be seen in the world without the protective layer of a band or collaborator. The Quiet Voice was the first song I’ve ever released under my own name so it means the world to me that it was recognized by NewSong.
What is your songwriting process like, and where do you find inspiration?
For me, songwriting has always been a way to ask questions. I’m not really moved to write until I feel there is a question I’ve been wrestling with and can’t figure out. Sometimes I feel I’m most interested in trying to write (what I pretentiously call) “secular spirituals” because even though I’m not religious, the questions that are most interesting and that pop up in my writing the most are metaphysical in nature and often have to do with the relationship between life on Earth and the before/after life, if there is such a thing.
I am fascinated with why we are here, what lessons we are here to learn and whether we’ve been here before, and I think that seeps into my writing all the time. As far as inspirations, I used to have a big sign in my studio that said “WWTPD” (what would Tom Petty do?) and anytime I was stuck in the writing process I would just try to channel him. I always admired his ability to cut out all extraneous crap and his brilliant economy with lyric and melody. I also tend to worship Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson, Paul Simon, Radiohead, Quincy, Pharrell, Stravinsky and Chopin, to name a few.
What important news about your music do you have coming up?
I just finished my second solo album, called The Elephant and the Seahorse, which I plan to release in April 2019. I will also be releasing a duo concept album with Jesse Terry in 2019, about a town in Alaska struggling with climate change. I’m currently writing a musical called The Paper Raincoat with former NewSong winner Amber Rubarth and NewSong finalist Devon Copley (The Animators, 2006). I will be continuing to release exclusive content and videos on my Patreon site, which I adore. As a producer, I just started work with NC natives Delta Rae on their upcoming double album.
NEWSONG MUSIC TO BRING ITS 17TH ANNUAL, INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE & SONGWRITING COMPETITION FINALS TO ASHEVILLE THIS DECEMBER
EIGHT EMERGING ARTISTS FROM ACROSS NORTH AMERICA TO SHOWCASE & COMPETE
GRAND PRIZE WINNER RECEIVES AN EP RECORDING PROJECT AT ECHO MOUNTAIN RECORDING STUDIOS, RELEASED ON THE NEWSONG RECORDINGS LABEL
COMPETITION HELD AT ISIS MUSIC HALL IN ASHEVILLE, NC, SATURDAY, DEC. 15
November 16, 2018 (Asheville, NC) – For the first time in its seventeen year history, the live performance finals of the NewSong Music Performance & Songwriting Competition will be held this December in Asheville, where NewSong Music has been headquartered since 2012. The move marks a new direction for the program, relocating from its longstanding host venue, New York City’s venerable Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
“We’re delighted to bring the competition finals to Asheville for the first time this year,” says NewSong co-founder and director Gar Ragland, a North Carolina native (Winston-Salem) who relocated the organization to Asheville from New York City just over six years ago. “The NewSong Competition attracts and features exceptionally talented emerging artists from across the continent, and bringing the program here to Asheville where we’re based is long overdue.”
Eight finalists – selected from advance online submissions from across North America and beyond – will come to Asheville to perform, compete and network with one another in the live showcase and competition finals at Isis Music Hall in Asheville on December 15. “Isis Music Hall is the perfect venue for this event,” states Ragland. It’s one of the best sounding listening rooms in the southeast, and the intimacy of the space is very well suited to the music we’ll be presenting.”
A panel of national music industry judges will select the overall winner of the competition. This year’s grand prize winner will receive a fully funded six-song EP, recorded and mixed at Asheville own Echo Mountain Recording Studios and released on the NewSong Recordings label. The grand prize winner will also receive a performance showcase at the esteemed 2019 ASCAP Music Café at the Sundance Film Festival (January 24 – February 3, 2019) in Park City, Utah and a featured performance in the 2019 Arts Brookfield ‘Summer Plaza’ series in New York City. All finalists will receive a Shure MOTIV microphone, and will be strongly considered for future ‘NewSong Presents’ paid performances across the United States.
NewSong Music is an independent music organization that aims to build a supportive community of performers and songwriters across various genres of music and skill levels, while identifying truly exceptional artists and introducing their music to a broader international audience.
WHAT: NewSong Music Performance & Songwriting Competition Finals
WHERE: Isis Music Hall // 743 Haywood Road, Asheville, NC
NewSong Music is an independent artist development company headquartered in Asheville, NC. NewSong’s mission is to build and support a community of performers and songwriters across all genres and levels of skill, and to identify the truly exceptional artists to introduce their music to a broader, international audience. Its programs include a boutique record label (NewSong Recordings), artist management services, concert production and the annual, international NewSong performance and songwriting competition. Its presenting partners include Arts Brookfield and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York, the ASCAP Music Café at the Sundance Film Festival.
For more information about NewSong Recordings and the NewSong Music Competition, visit newsong-music.com/
“Like all good storytellers, her words draw complete attention from its listener—making them eagerly grasp at lyrics to come, and hang on to and cherish what’s already past.” –WXPN The Key
Singer/Songwriter Rachael Kilgour To Release Game Changer Five-Song EP February 1 on NewSong Recordings
Hailed as “a heartfelt slice of master crafted indie folk” (Billboard), Minnesota-born, Boston-based singer/songwriter Rachael Kilgour, will release Game Changer, a five-song EP February 1, 2019, on NewSong Recordings. Now available for pre-order, the first single and video, “Holy Are We” was released today.
Recorded at Echo Mountain Recording Studios in Asheville, NC, produced and mixed by Gar Ragland, engineered by Grammy winner Julian Dreyer, and featuring carefully woven string arrangements by Sara Pajunen, Game Changer charts common ground that Kilgour and her listeners have come to share.
Following the success of her 2017 release, Rabbit in the Road, the new EP examines the artist’s first tentative steps into a more hopeful, post-heartbreak existence. With a clear head, Kilgour touches on the complicated nature of romance and relationship, sets up a stunning defense of queer love, and reassesses her priorities as a citizen of a changing wider world.
“There’s a school of thought that songwriters should work to be more inclusive of the audience,” Kilgour muses. “But I’ve come to feel that the more detail I can bring into a song, the more personal aspects there are, the more listeners can find themselves inside of it. The universality is in the emotion beneath the detail.”
The 2015 grand prize winner of the international NewSong Music Performance & Songwriting Competition and winner of the 2017 Kerrville New Folk Contest, Kilgour has been featured at NYC’s Lincoln Center, at The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and by the ASCAP Music Cafe at the Sundance Film Festival. She has released four previous recordings Self-Titled (2008), Will You Marry Me? (2011), Whistleblower’s Manifesto (2013) and Rabbit in the Road (2017).
