Overlooked talent.

When you think of the number of wealthy sports stars that get paid millions to have fun playing a game for a few years, consider the number of kids who dream of making a living doing something they are good at like football or baseball or hockey, etc.  I want you to think about the musicians who make the music you love to listen to.   They too were once kids with a dream; the dream of playing music that tons of people would hear.   For all the talented John Mayer’s and Adele’s out there, there are thousands more who might be nearly as good (or just as good) who go unheard.  These unsung heroes (ok, they aren’t heroes, but using unsung seemed appropriate and heroes usually goes with it), are one of the reasons I love working at ann arbor’s 107one.

Mainly through my show the Acoustic Brunch (Sundays from 11 AM – 1 PM) I get the chance to expose you to acoustic versions of songs you know and occasionally introduce you to a new song or artist I think deserves your attention. The station also welcomes like minded singer/songwriters with talent to our studios for Studio A2 sessions as often as we can.

In the coming 7 days (as of this writing anyway), I’ll be welcoming two such talents who fit my unsung description.  On Saturday April 7^th, a very talented young man who got tons of applause at this year’s Ann Arbor Folk Festival returns to town.  Seth Glier is a youngster from the Berklee College of Music who has caught the attention of many with his beautiful tenor and passionate songs. Seth will be in studio with me around noon prior to his first headlining show at the Ark.  Sometimes you meet someone and you just want to root for them because they are so nice, so genuine, you hope they get through. Seth is that guy. His last two releases have several great songs that deserve your attention and in a freer radio world, radio play.  He hasn’t been that lucky yet.  I hope I can alter that.

Friday April 13^th, a return visitor to Studio A2 will grace our building.  Chris Trapper not only deserves to be all over radio, he sounds like he already has been.  His band The Push Stars did have success in certain markets and opened shows for matchbox 20 in their heyday.  I found him first as a singer/songwriter solo artist and then went back and “discovered” his rock band releases.  Chris’ last trip through Ann Arbor saw him open two sold out shows for Colin Hay at the Ark last April.  People seemed to really like him and I had hoped that his next trip through town would be sooner than a year later and the audience that saw him with Colin Hay would be anxious to see him again as I was.  Last I heard there were plenty of seats available for his show at the Trinity House (only about 25 minutes east of the Ark) in Livonia on the 13^th.  Chris Trapper has the voice, the looks and the songwriting chops to play with the big boys, yet plays to small audiences.  This is criminal.   He’s the nicest guy too who has overcome adversity as a youth with a stutter. In addition to his show at the Trinity House, the following day April 14^th, he’ll be doing a benefit show in Lansing.  The proceeds benefit three different research foundations that deal with “invisible illnesses.”  (http://iie.lifeasazebra.com/ for more info).  Do yourself a favor and see one or both of the shows.

Other recent visitors to Studio A2 that have me wondering what it takes to be heard by larger audiences include Dave Boutette (who has a fine new CD, Mending Time, available), Jennie DeVoe (who I hope is booked for Ann Arbor Summer Festival this year so you can see her live), and Jetty Rae (who has a gorgeous voice, the look and some darn catchy songs).

CD releases that have caught my ear this year include one released last year by a Detroiter who goes by the mysterious name YRLK (if you heard this CD, you’d think it fits perfectly with what we do at 107one), Grand Rapids own Drew Nelson (recently released his first nationally distributed CD “Tilt A Whirl” and blew me away with his band Highway 2 at a house concert), Tyrone Wells (who needs to come back to Michigan and sing songs from his excellent “Where We Meet” CD soon), and Adam Cohen (who has written a song that, in my mind, equals the best work of his father Leonard with “What Other Guy”).

-John Bommarito

Summary of the 2012 Ann Arbor Folk Festival

Summary of the Friday night Ann Arbor Folk Festival:
-Sunny War=sucky war. I could have done with more of just about any other performer instead of sitting through that.
-Elephant Revival-the surprise act of the evening for me. Impressive.
-David Wax Museum-like everyone else except the headliner, they suffered from an awful sound mix, but there's not much there for my taste anyway, so...forgetable.
-Carbon Leaf-gathered around one microphone, old style. Sounded cool, but didn't do any hits and couldn't hear the vocals as well as I'd like. Love these guys anyway.
-Dawes-As expected, I was impressed. Needed much more time on the stage than they got (Carbon Leaf too)
-Heywood Banks-handled his emcee duties fairly well. I'm a fan already, so I get his humor whereas others might not. Loved that he played Big Butter Jesus and updated Interstate 80 Iowa with a song about I-75 Michigan.
Devotchka-I wouldn't go out of my way to see them again. That vocalist doesn't seem to mesh with the music very well to these ears. Their set was too long.
Ryan Adams-Holy crap! If I see him again, I hope it's solo just like tonight. Well worth it!
Summary-fire the sound company, hire one that understands that vocal mics are important too. If I am judging these bands as an average person on this performance and considering going to see them at the Ark, I might not understand that their problems with the sound was the sound company's fault and not theirs. A good time either way.

Saturday night Ann Arbor Folk Festival summary:
This lineup had no holes, so expectations were high. Overall the sound was better by leaps and bounds tonight. Not for everyone, surprisingly.
-Emcee Heywood Banks was more comfortable, but probably didn’t realize how many people go to both nights. Some repeat material (though I loved it both times), some new. It worked for me, but I am sure some out there are saying, “don’t do that again.”
-Seth Glier – you know how sometimes you root for an underdog to succeed? That’s the way I feel with Seth. Great guy, great voice, great songs. My only disappointment is he didn’t do my favorite song of his “Gotta Get Away.” Go see him when he headlines at the Ark.
-Sarah Jarosz – I got what I expected. She impressed me. I’d see her again unquestionably.
-Caravan of Thieves – Again, as expected. Their records are interesting (which doesn’t always translate into meaning “good”), but interesting enough that you’d want to see it live. They are really fun to watch, which makes the songs better. If you had a choice between buying a CD and seeing their show…see their show.
-Joe Henry – I’ve got most of the records he’s released and like Joe (though I wouldn’t put him in a “one of my favorites” category). His choice of both songs and microphone (what the hell was that microphone choice supposed to achieve? An AM radio sound? Yuck!) left me very disappointed. His comment about his first ever record that he purchased being a Glen Campbell record was the highlight of his set.
-Nanci Griffith - I have a lot of Nanci’s music and hadn’t yet seen her live. I know she’s not a spring chicken, but not much energy to her performance and the song selection was just ok. Not a super memorable set of music, but I still like her.
-Glen Campbell – Glen has Alzheimer's and this is pretty much it for him as far as touring goes. I hope every single audience member knew that. I am glad his kids were in his band to help him feel comfortable. That seemed to help. He needed a prompter for lyrics (expected), his voice is still pretty good (though captured much better on his last two records than live), but amazingly he can still really play the guitar. Well worth having him there, even though inside your gut was just wrenching every time he did something he would have been embarrassed about 5 years ago. “I need you more than want you. And I want you for all time.” Jimmy Webb may have written those words, but they belong to Glen. He sang them and I was happy.
-Emmylou Harris – I saw her 4 years ago as the headliner and what I remember about that night is I was excited that Jill Jack was playing the same night as one of her idols. Oh, and that Patty Grffin, Shawn Colvin, and Buddy Miller were on stage with her too. She’s beautiful, she’s a legend, and I wish she would have let me pick her set list. I’ll honestly probably forget that I saw this performance. I’m glad she covered Orphan Girl and especially glad to see most of the acts come on stage for an encore at the end of the show. Strangely, her sound mix wasn't very good in my opinion.

In summary. Thanks to the folks at The Ark for a great weekend! I’ll continue to do anything in my power to spread the word about the joy you bring me weekly.