Born and raised in Galveston, Texas, Hamilton was first hooked on music through his parents’ extensive collection of blues, rock, and soul records. Hamilton honed his multi-instrumental chops early, learning drums, piano, guitar, bass and harmonica by his early teens, and performing as part of his family’s doo-wop group.
At school in rural England during the mid-late‘90s, best mates Katherine Blamire and Jessica Davies hoped they’d one day escape their home town and dive headlong into the landscape and myth of America, the promised land of their dreams. Little did they know that by 2010, they’d have lived in New Orleans and Vancouver, recorded with 21st century icon Jack White and toured across continents. And now they’re releasing a debut album that fulfils the promise of their earlier singles. “Through Low Light And Trees” is an exquisitely shivery blend of alternative
As a little girl growing up in a sleepy surf town on Australia’s southern coast, Mia Dyson would sit in her father’s workshop and watch him build custom guitars by hand. He would play records by The Band and Bob Dylan and she would dream of playing lead guitar in arenas around the world. From an early age Mia was all too aware of the lack of female musicians she could look up to. “When people think of a musician or rockstar, they almost always think of someone male. If you want to be a serious musician/songwriter as a female, what is that? What does that look like?” says Dyson.
More than one artist shares this name. 1) Taste was formed in Cork, Ireland in August 1966 as a trio consisting of Rory Gallagher on guitars & vocals, Eric Kitteringham on bass, and Norman Damery on drums. In their early years Taste played around the UK before becoming regulars at Maritine Hotel, an R&B club in Belfast, Northern Ireland. In 1968 the original lineup split. The new lineup formed with Richard McCracken on bass and John Wilson on drums.
Abaji is a Lebanese-born multi-instrumentalist, singer, and composer. "When I was ten or eleven, I got really involved with sounds. Not just the guitar, but the sounds themselves.” From a musical family—Abaji’s Armenian grandmother played the oud (lute), his great-grandmother the kanun (zither), and his six maternal aunts were all passionate and contentious musicians. Abaji started playing and experimenting on an inexpensive Chinese-built guitar alone in his Beirut bedroom...
The Fearless Vampire Killers are a hot surfy blues rock band from Melbourne who love to jive and vamp. Founders Seán Ainsworth, Al Marx and Dylan Lieberman formed the group while attending high school together in 2005. With 'not so bad' instruments and regular rehearsals, the band soon started playing gigs, mainly at friends' parties and school fetes, but it wasn’t long until the band exploded into the Melbourne music scene impressing the real hard arse, glass-throwing punters.
Any list of awesome Aussies should include Anni Piper. An outstanding bassist in her own right, she's an authentic roots blues rocker that possesses a voice to die for. It has even been touted that an appropriate compliment would be that she sounds 100% American! Anni remembers with clarity the first time she heard the blues back in her school days. “It was Paul Butterfield Blues Band playing ‘Born in Chicago’ - I knew straight away that this was the direction I was heading.” she says.
With one of her first singles turning into a national hit, 1962's "Let Me Down Easy", Detroit-raised LaVette would seem a natural soul star, but she was never able to cut an album deal. In 1972 her album A Child of the Seventies was shelved by Atlantic Records, then thought lost forever in a fire. She eked out a living on the European festival circuit, occasionally surfacing such as with the disco single "Doin' the Best that I Can"...
Lisa Miller is acclaimed by critics and fans alike throughout Australia as a sublime songwriter, possessed of a blue-eyed, broken-hearted voice which is utterly distinctive. Her songs are at once perceptive and evocative, desperately sad and munificently hopeful, spare and substantial. Miller has released 6 solo albums since her 1996 debut. Her 5th album "Morning In The Bowl Of Night" was released in 2007.