To keep the music playing during this unpredictable time, we are requiring all patrons and staff to wear a mask while attending events at Chautauqua. To read more, click here.

Peter Bradley Adams introduced himself as a member of Eastmountainsouth, the duo he put together with fellow songwriter and vocalist Kat Maslich-Bode. The demos the duo made, produced by Adams, blended pop and folk with subtle electronic touches, making it a pioneering effort in the realm of folktronica with a satisfying blend of ancient folklore and modern technology. Robbie Robertson (of The Band) signed Eastmountainsouth to DreamWorks, but a major label shake up led to the band’s demise.

Adams launched his solo career with Gather Up (2006), a brooding, autumnal album recorded in his apartment. Its hushed melancholy won rave reviews and led to Leavetaking (2008), an understated folk rock album that featured the hit “The Longer I Run”, followed by Traces (2009), and Between Us (2011), collectively selling over 275,000 single downloads. Adams continues his introspective explorations of the middle ground between hope and heartache on The Mighty Storm.

To make this album, Adams put together a team of like-minded producer/musicians including Lex Price (Mindy Smith, k.d. lang), Joshua Grange (k. d. lang, Sheryl Crow), Joe McMahan (Luella and the Sun), and Ian Fitchuk. “We sat down and worked together, everyone contributing to the playing, arrangements and production,” Adams explains. “We recorded in RCA Studio A in Nashville, the old Chet Atkins studio built in 1965. Most of the tracking was done live… we all spread out in the same room, so you can really hear the sound of that space on the record.”

Like Adams’ other albums, The Mighty Storm is marked by strong melodies, the band’s understated, but muscular playing and the calm emotional intensity of his singing. “Hey Believers” is an anti-spiritual that blends hushed acoustic guitar and long sustained notes from a churchy organ to deliver a message that’s equal parts faith and desperation. Joshua Grange’s crying pedal steel and Joe McMahan’s reverb drenched guitar add a soft mournful quality to “She Has to Come Down,” the story of a young woman slipping into a self-destructive vortex. The song was inspired by the Jack Kerouac novella, ‘Tristessa” and also appears on a recent compilation called “Esperanza”. Piano, guitar and pedal steel augment the poignant melody of “Around Us.” The lyrics are the album’s most positive, but Adams’ whispered, aching vocals provide a dramatic contrast, implying the loneliness that often resides in the heart of an enraptured lover. The songs on The Mighty Storm may have a placid surface, but the soothing melodies and Adams’ low-key delivery run deep to portray the joys and insecurities of the human condition with a rare compassionate insight.

To keep the music playing during this unpredictable time, we are requiring all patrons and staff to wear a mask while attending events at Chautauqua. To read more, click here.

Colorado’s FY5 proudly swim in the deep currents of American music, playing new songs, well-informed of country and bluegrass traditions, but not bound to them. Featuring thoughtful arrangements, strong singing and musicianship, the band strives to connect to listeners with stories of common struggles and big ideas. While their sound evokes timelessness, it is decidedly contemporary, well-traveled 21st century sensibility that informs their songwriting.

FY5 released their 4th studio album of all original material, The Way These Things Go, in early 2018. The band’s guitar player and primary songwriter, Mike Finders, won the Merlefest-Chris Austin songwriting contest in 2005 and 2006; it’s Mike’s songs and the band’s delivery that make this group special and their performances memorable.

“This type of music would be comfortable at the Grand Ole Opry, Austin City Limits and they wouldn’t get kicked off that old fogey classic Lawrence Welk Show either. It’s that diversified, satisfying and most importantly good.”  John Aspice, No Depression

To keep the music playing during this unpredictable time, we are requiring all patrons and staff to wear a mask while attending events at Chautauqua. To read more, click here.

Seth Walker is often cited as one of the most prolific contemporary Americana artists on the scene today. He’s a multi-dimensional talent who combines a gift for melody and lyric alongside a rich, Gospel-drenched, Southern-inflected voice with a true blue knack for getting around on the guitar. His most recent studio album, Are You Open, produced by Jano Rix of The Wood Brothers, and a string of singles, including “We Got This,” “Spirits Moving” and a cover of Van Morrison’s classic “Warm Love” further build upon this reputation. 

Most recently, Walker added published author to his oeuvre with his first memoir, ‘Your Van Is On Fire.’ A riotous and charming melange of a touring musician’s life, the book is comprised of many short essays, poems and paintings he’d accumulated over a near 30-year career. Written during the 2020 lockdown, Walker offers a first hand account of an artist in perpetual motion who’s dedicated his life to chasing the muse wherever it may lead. 

Seth Walker is currently based in Asheville, NC after previously residing in Austin, New Orleans and Nashville. He’s used those experiences wisely, soaking up the sounds and absorbing the musical lineage of these varied places. With a bluesman’s respect for roots and tradition, coupled with an appreciation for—and successful melding of—contemporary songwriting, Seth sublimely incorporates a range of styles with warmth and grace. Perhaps Country Standard Time said it best: “If you subscribe to the Big Tent theory of Americana, then Seth Walker –with his blend of blues, gospel, pop, R&B, rock, and a dash country—just might be your poster boy.”

To keep the music playing during this unpredictable time, we are requiring all patrons and staff to wear a mask while attending events at Chautauqua. To read more, click here.

Pert Near has had the privilege of co-founding, curating and hosting the Blue Ox Music Festival. Formed by old friends in 2003 within the vibrant Minneapolis music scene, they have been tireless stewards of the midwestern roots music community. Performing with infectious energy and an undeniable joy, Pert Near’s strong songcraft melds with old-time sensibilities in a unique brand of modern string band music they deliver to fans around the world. Their new album, ‘Rising Tide,’ is now available.