Jim LaMusique

I liked Bell X1's Rocky Took a Lover the very first time I heard it.  That track is from the Flock album which I've included here, along with Blue Lights on the Runway, their latest release.  Be sure to check out The Great Defector, which you can download for FREE from Amazon right now, which, by the way, reminds me of some classic Talking Heads stuff...

Biography

 Bell X1 and Damien Rice used to be a band called Juniper. Juniper berries are used to make gin. "Gin and tonic dressing gown..." is a lyric from Bell X1's debut album, Neither am I, released in 2000 in Ireland. Ireland used to be poor, and now it's blingin, with scattered showers. Showers of critical acclaim followed the release of their (multi platinum n ting) second record, Music in Mouth, in 2003 in the UK and Ireland; the public too were keen. Keane, Snow Patrol, The Frames, Bon Jovi (?!) and Elliot Smith are some of the people that Bell X1 have toured with. With the song Eve, the Apple of My Eye on the latest OC soundtrack, the band recently played in New York and LA, where some of the OC cast came to see the show. Showing their ignorance, the band didn't know who they were being introduced to, bringing to mind the meeting of Homer Simpson and Billy Corgan - "Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins" ..."Homer Simpson, smiling politely". Their current record Flock was released in Ireland and went straight to number 1 in the pop charts, followed by many sold out shows and all that jazz. Flock is out now! Make sure to check back here for more information!

Somewhere in-between John Prine and Jason Mraz lies Justin Trawick, a Washington, DC based singer-songwriter working hard to etch his name in musical history. Winner of the 2006 Emerging Artist Contest at the Takoma Park Folk Festival, he has played repeated performances at DC area venues such as the 9:30 Club, IOTA, Jammin Java, the Kennedy Center�s Millennium Stage, and more. Justin has toured the east coast, performing at prominent out-of-town venues like World Caf� Live, the Knitting Factory and even Antones in Austin, Texas.  He has shared the stage with nationally renowned artists and bands like Brett Dennen, Pat Green, Bob Schneider, Blues Traveler, Sara Bareilles, Pat McGee, Ingram Hill, Edwin McCain, Corey Harris, Tyrone Wells,  The Hackensaw Boys, The Gourds, Cowboy Mouth, Emmit Swimming,and even KC and the Sunshine Band!

Describing his music as �urban folk rock�, Justin has a sound ranging from folk to bluegrass, and even acoustic funk-infused hip-hop. He performs both solo and with varying members of his eight-piece band, which consists of acoustic guitar, upright bass, drums, violin, mandolin, saxophone, cello, and hand percussion. His lyrics are gritty yet sweet, often referencing lessons learned or hopes for a better future.  His debut album, "How to Build a Life With a Lemonade Stand," is a drums-on-the-steering-wheel ride through thirteen songs captured live just as if he were playing in your living room. Justin released the record entitled "How To Build a Life With a Lemonade Stand" in February 2007.  He has followed that up with his latest full-length album "Live at IOTA" which is a great demonstration of how Justin and his band have grown in a year.  "Live at IOTA" was released May 2008 and he has worked extremely hard to continue to grow his already sizable fan base.

I was not able to find a bio on Lost in the Trees, but did find some great press info: (Nice Website BTW - Jim)

"Surrounded by rich, orchestral arrangements that vary between gorgeous shimmers and unsettling bursts of shrill fury, [Picker] paints heart-wrenching portraits of a person abandoned by love and family."
-Shuffle Magazine

"An Arcadian construction of emotional wilderness hemmed by string sections [and] strummed acoustic guitars."
-The Independent

"Even when considered agianst the slew of releases Trekky Records is unleashing upon listeners this Fall, Lost In The Trees’ new album All Alone In An Empty House is a striking standout."
-The Daily Tar Heel

"With All Alone, Picker finally finds his voice, fusing elements of Appalachian folk with lush orchestral passages."
-Shuffle Magazine

"In terms of devastating emotion, nothing from this year in North Carolina can compete with the first seven songs on All Alone in an Empty House."
-The Daily Tar Heel

"Using folk-based pop songs rife with lush flourishes of orchestral texture an instrumentation as a template, Lost in the Trees creates a dynamic well suited to front-man Ari Picker's reedy soliloquies."
-Uptown Magazine

"[All Alone] takes the musical inventiveness displayed on Time Taunts Me and adds the depth of hauntingly personal lyrics and stripped-down, acoustic songs."
-Southeast Performer

"[Picker's] most personal album."
-The Herald Journal

"An almost-unbearably intimate and gorgeous body of music."
-The Burg

Corey Smith's incredibly energetic live show, combined with clever, well-crafted lyrics and soulful Southern voice has earned him an enthusiastic legion of fans. Smith says, “It really starts with a song. We haven’t created some magical formula. It’s just about writing songs that, for one reason or another, connect with people and impact their lives.”  
 
“I think it’s a little of everything,” says Smith in describing his innovative style. “We don’t live in cultural bubbles anymore. We’re all exposed to many different types of music through TV, radio, and now especially the internet. I like to think my songs reflect the variety of musical styles that have impacted my life in Georgia. Gospel, country, blues, rock, hip-hop – strands of all these are there.”
 
Smith grew up in Jefferson, Georgia, soaking up an array of music from George Jones to Lynyrd Skynyrd to Nirvana to Tupac. “I graduated from high school with about 50 or 60 people. It was a fairly small community, but the kids came from a lot of different backgrounds,” says Smith, who currently lives about a quarter mile from his childhood home. “One of the cool things about Jefferson is that it’s so close to Athens. We’d hang out there on the weekends. It’s a very eclectic college town, almost like taking a little cross-section of a major city and just putting it right there in the middle of rural Georgia. People from all over the world come to school there. Sure we lived out in the country, but when we partied on the weekends, we went to this place that was almost cosmopolitan. That really had a big impact on me.”