Flowers from the farmer’s market. Fresh strawberries. A walk in the park. Mama likes to buy local, doesn’t she? How about some fresh local music. We’ve got a few finds and featured artists in the Dotmatrix Project archives with live albums that you can listen to on LastFm, or purchase from Amie Street. And if the live album isn’t ready yet, go ahead and support a local artist and buy it straight from the source.
Your mama would be proud.
Laurelyn Dossett
Aside from her soft soprano and storyteller lyrics, Laurelyn is a mama herself. She raised her 3 young babies until they could get around on their own and then started taking guitar lessons. A student of Greensboro’s own Scott Manring at String Studios, Laurelyn’s music career has taken her far beyond the typical musician’s music career. This month she’ll tour with the North Carolina Symphony; visit Prairie Home Companion with singing partner (and a mother, too) Kari Sickenberger. And next summer she’ll premier a fourth music and play collaboration with Triad Stage’s Preston Lane. Her live show performance at the Dotmatrix Project captures Dossett’s love for North Carolina folklore and captivating songwriting.
Laurelyn Dossett, Live at the Dotmatrix Project on LastFm
Download the album on Amie Street
Or check out her new album, Stages
Jim Avett
Don’t let anybody fool you. Jim Avett was a singer and songwriter long before his boys ever broke a banjo string. The classic country music lover is a fool for a good gospel or country song and spends most of his time these days schooling young musicians on the finer phrases of the craft, passing it on by singing lines and picking melodies from Tom T. Hall and Merle Haggard tunes. Most of the tunes from Jim’s live performance at the Dotmatrix Project won’t go up online due to copyright issues (who wants to piss off Merle Haggard? Seriously). But he does have a gospel album recently released through Ramseur Records that features a few members of his family.
Rhiannon Giddens
For a young woman, the Greensboro-based musician knows a lot of old songs. The Oberlin trained singer traded in the arias for a banjo and fiddle to form the Carolina Chocolate Drops. The world-touring troupe is an African American string band – a style established here in the Piedmont region. Still, Giddens is a modern woman, too, and is stretching her songwriting skills into a new era: her own. Her Dotmatrix Project album captures the new and the old. The album isn’t ready yet, but you can prime your dear mother’s ears with the next best thing – a Rhiannon Giddens album.
Rhiannon’s album is still in the works (she’s been on tour) but you can hear some of her tracks on Laurelyn’s album
Rhiannon Giddens
Bruce Piephoff
You really can’t talk local music without mentioning Bruce Piephoff. The singer songwriter performed with an impressive line up of musicians for his Dotmatrix Project performance, featuring fiddles, stand up bass, accordions and Filthybird’s lead singer and primary songwriter Renee Mendoza. His live performance isn’t up on Last Fm yet, but Bruce’s prolific career can be heard on his new album, The Chestnut Tree – his 16th – from Flyin’ Cloud Records.
Bruce’s live show isn’t yet available
Bruce Piephoff
The Old Stone Revue
If your mama still likes to yell “Free Bird” at live concerts, this album is for her. Here’s what Last Fm has to say about these boys: “New Grass and Roots music has gained worldwide acclaim in the last decade — from the back porches, to the Ryman Auditorium, Americana is stronger than ever. The Old Stone Revue was formed to carry on the tradition of singer songwriting but not feeling confined to the boundaries of traditional bluegrass and country music. With influences from John Prine, Johnny Cash, and Del McCoury, to Jazz Is Dead, and Gram Parsons, The Old Stone Revue mix traditional bluegrass with country, rock, and soul.”
The Old Stone Revue, Live at the Dotmatrix Project on LastFm
Purchase the live recording on Amie Street
The Old Stone Revue
Whatcha Think?