Blog

This past weekend, I played two of the most spectacular venues in the world within the span of 24 hours.  It all started in London, on Friday night.  I’d been on tour as the support act for my favorite punk rock icon, Iggy Pop.  London was my last date on the tour and our show that evening was at the legendary Royal Albert Hall.

South African guitarist Derek Gripper is the kind of musician who makes painstakingly difficult technique sound like the product of effortless musicianship and adventurous curiosity. Though he trained a classical violinist, he is perhaps best known for transcribing music played on the 21-string kora instrument from West Africa and arranging it for guitar. Last year, he presented a TEDx talk about his work and we strongly encourage you to check it out.

For most, Valerie June’s success to date seems meteoric. This Southern gal from Jackson, Tennessee has already wowed British audiences on the legendary music show “Later… with Jools Holland”, an iconic musical program that has showcased everyone from Paul McCartney to Björk. She sang a duet with Eric Church at the American Country Music Awards in 2013.

As we prepare for the ‘Audible Cloisters’ marathon in May we hope to give all the artists involved an opportunity to share their thoughts and opinions about their lives in music and provide a greater insight for our audience. We are kicking off this series of interviews with the brilliant guitarist, Dylan Carlson. For the better part of 30 years Carlson has been the frontman of the drone metal band, Earth. He has subsequently gone on to cultivate a unique style blending a visceral, raw aesthetic with an almost penitent improvisational simplicity.