Compass Records

Claire Lynch Announces New Album Dear Sister

May 09, 2013

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Claire Lynch Announces

New Album Dear Sister

2x IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year and United States Artists Walker Fellowship Winner Presents Compass Records Debut

(Nashville, TN) May 9^th, 2013 – Acclaimed bluegrass singer-songwriter Claire Lynch presents her much-anticipated Compass Records debut album Dear Sister, arriving May 28^th.By any measure, Claire Lynch is high on the roots music world’s A-list. Her accolades include two International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Female Vocalist of the Year Awards, 2 GRAMMY nominations for Best Bluegrass Album, songs recorded by such luminaries as Patty Loveless, The Seldom Scene, Cherryholmes, Kathy Mattea, the Whites and Stephanie Davis, and now the 2012 United States Artists $50,000 Walker Fellowship.

But it’s as a bluegrass bandleader that she’s best known and her current lineup is her strongest yet, featuring like-minded musicians blending tradition and innovation - two-time IBMA-winning bassist-clawhammer banjo player-dancer-percussionist Mark Schatz, mandolinist-guitarist Matt Wingate and 21-year-old string wizard Bryan McDowell, who at 18, won an unprecedented Triple Crown at Winfield, Kansas - taking first place honors in the flatpicking guitar, mandolin and fiddle contests. “There’s wonderful live chemistry in this band,” she says. “Granted, the show is focused around me, but it speaks volumes of what we create together.” Her bluegrass bona fides include two IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year awards, but she continues expanding her musical vision, incorporating swing, vintage country, old-timey, Celtic and delicate singer-songwriter balladry. Lynch co-led the acclaimed Alabama-based Front Porch String Band for many years with her ex-husband, singer-mandolinist Larry Lynch, before forming her own Claire Lynch Band, a band that has featured masters like bassist Missy Raines, guitarist Jim Hurst and mandolinist David Harvey.

It is always Claire herself and that angelic voice that remains front and center. Claire has all the basic tools that make a great singer - impeccable pitch, tone and phrasing - but what truly sets her apart is the way she harnesses her considerable gifts to express the feeling as well as the meaning of a song. She is fluent in the complete vocabulary of human emotion and in her delivery we feel it vividly.

There’s girlish innocence in the unrequited love song “How Many Moons”; the regret and relentless road weariness in the locomotive rhythm of “Doin’ Time” a track that features Tim O’Brien; her joy at letting her bluegrass pony run in a feisty remake of the Osborne Brothers’ classic, “I’ll be Alright Tomorrow,” featuring Compass co-founder Alison Brown on banjo. On Pierce Pettis’ “That Kind of Love,” she’s the voice of clear-eyed experience. Along the way there’s the full-tilt country of “Everybody Knows I’ve Been Cryin’,” and “Buttermilk Road/The Arbours,” a song/fiddle tune medley that’s simultaneously contemporary and old-timey, featuring Mark Schatz on clawhammer banjo and “hambone” percussion.

However, the emotional lodestone of the album is the title song, “Dear Sister.” Co-written by Claire and the remarkable Louisa Branscomb, “Dear Sister” has its roots in Louisa’s ’s family tree. “Her great-great-great aunt from Union Springs, deep in Southern Alabama, had four brothers who fought in the Civil War and they all wrote letters home to her,” Claire explains.

The aunt saved the letters in a trunk, where they were discovered more than 100 years later. Louisa’s cousin Frank edited them into a book entitled Dear Sister. Piecing together information from the letters, Claire and Louisa believe it’s likely that at least one brother fought in the famous Battle of Stones River, on the outskirts of Murfreesboro, Tennessee., which lasted three days and resulted in nearly 25,000 casualties.

The song imagines what that brother might have written just before the fighting began on Dec. 31, 1862, using historical accounts that tell of each side singing battle hymns until both came together in what was then a fairly new popular tune, “Home Sweet Home.” It’s on this song you hear very clearly why Claire Lynch is a once-in-a-generation voice. She brings it viscerally to life, capturing the dread of the soldiers waiting to fight, the love of home that inspired both sides and the hope that death is not the end. It all comes together in the heartbreaking way she sings two simple words - “sweet home.”

Anyone needing an introduction to Claire Lynch will find it all on the 10 tracks on Dear Sister. She takes classic bluegrass and Americana themes of love and home and at once makes them both universal and utterly contemporary leaving little question about her place in the pantheon of acoustic music’s greatest voices.

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Four New Compilations Coming From Music City Roots: Live From The Loveless Cafe

April 25, 2013

May Releases Announced from Compass Records

April 17, 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: (615) 320-7672

publicity@compassrecords.com

May Releases From Compass Records

Group Announced

Claire Lynch debuts on Compass with Dear Sister

plus music from Rebecca Frazier

and The Bankesters

(Nashville, TN) April 17, 2013 – Compass Records expands its bluegrass and Americana offerings with 3 CDs releasing on May 28th: Bluegrass/Americana singer and songwriter Claire Lynch’s Compass debut Dear Sister, the long awaited solo debut When We Fall from bluegrass vocalist/guitarist Rebecca Frazier and the reissue of Looking Forward from rising bluegrassers The Bankesters.

Claire Lynch – Dear Sister

By any measure, Claire Lynch is high on the roots music world’s A-List, with accolades that include two International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Female Vocalist of the Year Awards, 2 GRAMMY nominations for Best Bluegrass Album, songs recorded by such luminaries as Patty Loveless, The Seldom Scene, Cherryholmes, Kathy Mattea, the Whites and Stephanie Davis, and now the 2012 USA Artists $50,000 Walker Fellowship.

Dear Sister showcases Lynch and her razor sharp band (Mark Schatz – bass, Matt Wingate – guitar, mandolin, Bryan McDowell – fiddle, mandolin, guitar) on a rock-solid, 10-song set of bluegrassy, folk and Americana cuts. Standouts include “Doin’ Time” (with Tim O’Brien on vocals and bouzouki), the title track “Dear Sister”—an anthemic ballad of the Civil War written by Lynch and Louisa Branscomb that is based on recently discovered historic letters written by a relative of Louisa’s on the eve of the battle of Stone’s River—and the Pierce Pettis-penned “That Kind of Love.” The songs constitute what is possibly Claire’s most personal record to date and certainly one of the most broadly accessible albums of her career.

Rebecca Frazier – When We Fall

Rebecca Frazier achieved notoriety in the bluegrass world as the first female musician ever to appear on the cover of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine, but it is her vocal prowess and songwriting chops that make her one of the most exciting new artists to emerge on the national bluegrass stage. When We Fall is her long awaited solo debut and it is already garnering praise from bluegrass fans and critics in the know. Accompanying Frazier on the album of original songs and tunes are some of the finest players in bluegrass including Barry Bales (bass), Scott Vestal (banjo), Ron Block (banjo), John Frazier (mandolin) and more. Vocally the album places Frazier solidly in the tradition created by Alison Krauss, Rhonda Vincent, Claire Lynch and others with driving tracks like “Ain’t Gonna Work Tomorrow” which are reminiscent of the early recordings of Alison Krauss while instrumentals such as “Virginia Coastline” and “Clifftop” give a tip of the hat to guitar legends Tony Rice and the late jazz guitarist Emily Remler, about whom Frazier wrote her Honors Senior Thesis at the University of Michigan. Taken as a whole, Frazier is a triple threat and her multi-faceted musicianship is sure to place her at the top of the crop of up and coming leading ladies in bluegrass.

The Bankesters – Looking Forward

Following in the tradition of seminal family bluegrass bands such as The Lewis Family, The Isaacs, and the McLain Family Band, The Bankesters are one of the most sought after new bands on the bluegrass scene. Gorgeous sister harmonies set them apart from the pack (sister Emily Bankester was recognized this year with International Bluegrass Music Association’s Momentum Award for Vocalist of the Year) and the band’s DIY release of Looking Forward has been turning heads in the bluegrass community, leading to the album’s title track claiming the #1 spot on the Bluegrass Today singles airplay chart in February of this year. The retail release of the album should earn more fans for The Bankesters as well as lay the groundwork for a brand new studio project scheduled for release in fall 2013.

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Compass Records Signs The Bankesters

April 16, 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: publicity@compassrecords.com

(615) 320-7672

Compass Records Signs

The Bankesters
Nashville-based roots music label welcomes exciting new bluegrass family band with plans for fall new release

(Nashville, TN) April 15, 2013 – Compass Records is excited to announce that The Bankesters have joined its roster of bluegrass artists. Phil and Dorene Bankester and their three daughters and son-in-law are known for some of the finest harmony singing in bluegrass music. They are currently at work gathering material for a new album to be produced by Alison Brown and tentatively slated for a fall 2013 release. In the meantime, Compass will be re-releasing the band’s latest album Looking Forward on May 28th for international distribution.

“This talented family band from Illinois has successfully navigated the most difficult hurdle facing groups of this kind: growing from a ‘cute kid’ act to a serious collection of young adult musicians,” says John Lawless of Bluegrass Today. In a short amount of time they have developed a unique sound that has drawn critical acclaim from across the bluegrass community. In 2012, Emily Bankester was awarded the first International Bluegrass Music Association Momentum Award for Vocalist of the Year.

Their 2012 release Looking Forward, produced by Steven Mougin (Sam Bush Band, Nedski and Mojo), was called one of the best of 2012 by Engine 145, praising the “angelic harmonies of sisters Melissa Triplett, Emily, and Alysha,” and the track “Looking Forward To Look Back” climbed to the #1 spot on the Bluegrass Today airplay chart in February. The album features the band’s intuitive harmonies with cuts by Donna Ulisse, Dennis Duff, Billy Boone Smith, Lynn and Kerry Chater, and others. They even made a touching video for the self-empowering song “Don’t Try To Be Anyone Else” – click here to view.

Billboard Magazine has touted Compass Records Group as one of the leading independent labels of the past decade. The label group is home to more than 500 releases across the Compass Records, Green Linnet and Mulligan Records imprints with a roster that boasts a variety of artists including Colin Hay, Victor Wooten, Claire Lynch, Altan, Peter Rowan, The Gibson Brothers, Darden Smith, BeauSoleil, Catie Curtis and label co-founder Alison Brown. For more information, visit www.compassrecords.com.

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Compass Records signs Darden Smith

April 11, 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Compass Records Signs Darden Smith
Americana Songwriter behind Songwriting With Soliders and Be An Artist Program Joins Compass’ Award-winning Roster

(Nashville, TN) April 11, 2013 – Compass Records is proud to announce the signing of Americana singer-songwriter Darden Smith. His Compass debut Love Calling was co-produced by Gary Paczosa and John Randall and represents the culmination of his work as an artist and global philanthropist. It is slated for release on August 27th.

Darden Smith has come a long way from his Americana roots as a singer-songwriter from Austin, Texas. Over the course of his 25-year career he has recorded a dozen critically acclaimed albums known for weaving together rock, pop, country, folk and Americana influences with the musical roots of his home state. Darden is also notable for his efforts to use his songwriting skills to help others. A decade ago, he founded The Be An Artist Program and his seminars to encourage students to explore creativity through songwriting have reached more than 15,000 students across the United States and Western Europe. His SongwritingWith: collaborations find him teaming with, among others, U.S. soldiers transitioning to civilian life after combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, homeless youth in New Jersey and HIV-affected villagers in Africa. In advance of the album release for Love Calling, Darden will be on tour with Kim Richey (dates below):

ON TOUR w/ Kim Richey (click for full show details)

4/13 - Acoustic Cafe Series - Indianapolis, IN

4/14 - Jammin Java - Vienna, VA

4/15 - Joe’s Pub - New York, NY

4/18 - Billy’s Tavern - Thomaston, ME

4/19 - Club Passim - Cambridge, MA

4/20 - The Loft/Union County PAC - Rahway, NJ

Billboard Magazine has described Compass Records Group as one of the leading independent labels of the past decade. The label group is home to over 500 releases across the Compass Records, Green Linnet and Mulligan Records imprints with a roster that boasts a variety of artists including Colin Hay, Victor Wooten, Claire Lynch, Altan, Peter Rowan, The Gibson Brothers, BeauSoleil, Catie Curtis and label co-founder Alison Brown.

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