2018 Upcoming Events
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Sat07Mar2020
HONEY RYDER | ISABELLA COULSTOCK
GUEST LIST FULL | Doors 18:45 | Live 19:15 | Finish 10:45
HONEY RYDER | Saturday 07 March 2020 | Top UK country crossover trio featuring Lindsay O'Mahony, Jason Huxley and Matt Bishop "Honey Ryder have their feet in folk and country, sound both classic and contemporary and fit the current trend for a return to real music"
OFFICIAL VIDEO
LIVE AT LITTLE RABBIT BARN VIDEO | February 2016
Formed by singer Lindsay O’Mahony and initially a duo, Honey Ryder self-released a debut album ‘Rising Up’ in 2009. A rock record with folk influences, Rising Up received widespread critical acclaim and led to the band supporting Will Young on a 19 date theatre tour and Michael Bolton in UK arenas. The album spawned two Top 40 UK singles and saw the band flown to Austin, Texas and the south of France for performances at South By South West and Midem, respectively.
At Midem, playing a Brits showcase alongside Paolo Nutini and Jamie Cullum, Honey Ryder found a fan in ex Sony executive Chris Craker, who invited them to be the first act to record at his newly-built, state of the-art, residential recording complex south of Bangkok.
They sent their song, You Can’t Say That, to Paul Worley, the man who signed and produced The Dixie Chicks and Lady Antebellum.
He set up sessions with a real Who’s Who of top Nashville writers. "We were supposed to stay a few days, but it went so well we were there for weeks.”
They have a very methodical way of writing in Nashville,” explains Jason. “A verse and a chorus have to be complete before lunch, the entire song finished in a day. We really worked out there, sometimes with writers that were more pure country or bluegrass than pop, but we learnt a lot from everyone.”
Among Honey Ryder’s collaborators were Tom Douglas (Lady Antebellum’s I Run To You, Tim McGraw, Martina McBride), Blair Daly (Rascal Flatts, Keith Urban, Faith Hill) and Rivers Rutherford (who has written US No.1s for Dolly Parton, Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw).
Before Honey Ryder left Nashville, they recorded six songs at Ocean Way, a studio used by the likes of Dolly Parton and Kings Of Leon, including the brooding World’s Away and Fleetwood Mac-like You Won’t Find Me.
“The standard of musicianship out there is incredible,” says Lindsay. “In a day, we had assembled a band that included a Russian banjo player who records with Lady Antebellum and Taylor Swift, Mark Knopfler’s bass player, Stevie Nick’s keyboardist and the best drummer I have ever heard. After listening to the songs twice on a dictaphone, we recorded most of them in one take.”
ISABELLA COULSTOCK
ISABELLA COULSTOCK | Saturday 07 March 2020 | Isabella is a 18 year old singer/songwriter with country music in her heart. She has performed on Kent TV and BBC Radio Kent and the Black Deer Festival in Tunbridge Wells. Most recently opening for Jools Holland and has been asked back for another support slot.
The Little Rabbit Barn music evenings are private invitation-only gigs.
Contact us if you'd like to be on the guest list and we will get back to you to confirm.There will be complimentary food and we are suggesting an artist donation from £15.
GUEST LIST FULL PLEASE CONTACT US FOR RESERVE LIST
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Sat11Apr2020
THE GRAHAMS | WHEN RIVERS MEET
Doors 18:45 | Live 19:15 | Finish 10:45
THE GRAHAMS | FULL BAND SHOW
Alyssa and Doug have been performing together since they were teenagers growing up in the New Jersey suburbs, sneaking into New York City to hear their favorite bands play. They burst onto the Americana scene in 2013 with their debut, Riverman’s Daughter, which features songs written while traveling the Mississippi River and the Louisiana swamps in search of inspiration. It spent 11 weeks in the Top 40. 2015’s Glory Bound, was declared “easily one of the best Americana albums of the year” by No Depression
For Kids Like Us, their current album written on a wild motorcycle ride along Route 66, at the height of the 2016 election season.
“Everything about Route 66 – the neon signs, the motels, the cars, the souvenirs, even the menus – are stuck in a different time,” Alyssa says. “Of course the music that developed would have moments of fantasy, moments of horror, even some moments of the supernatural.”
Their work with Richard Swift – and with co-Producer Dan Molad (Lucius, Elizabeth & the Catapult, The Wild Reeds), who later took over the project – was what enabled The Grahams to channel all that chaotic stimulus into something big, lush, ambitious, and profoundly satisfying.
With the kind of gorgeous, aching melodies only hinted at on their previous records, and the fearless arrangements that Swift and Molad are known for, Kids Like Us might just be one of those instant classics that music lovers used to swoon over in rock and roll’s heyday. It doesn’t hurt to have a killer band comprised of members of Lucius, The Night Sweats and The Raconteurs.
“We wanted to work with Swift because of his unique sense of modernist preservation. We got so much more. Richard was like magic. He was like nobody we’d ever met before. You instantly wanted to be near him and be part of his world and suck in the mysterious energy and love he put out,” Alyssa says of working with their production Dream Team. “Danny is like a long-lost friend. It was like we’d known him in past lives and yet he surprised us at every moment with his ingenious creativity. Danny’s magic is in his pure curiosity. He was able to utilize our voices together in a way we had never explored in the past and this helped to create a new sound for us.”
Where The Graham’s first two records were minimalist and sometimes acoustic, Kids Like Us finds the duo exploring a wider range of sounds, as befits a record written on one of America’s longest, most storied roads. The new songs grew out of motel-room whispers and campfire musings as much as from studio experimentation. “Don’t Give Your Heart Away” is twangy pop with a David Lynchian sheen; “Kids Like Us” takes a modernized Antonioni feel in new directions. “Searching The Milky Way” is a 50’s biker flick directed by Quentin Tarantino.
“We started in Chicago with the blues and Motown,” Doug says, “and we ended in L.A. listening to the Beach Boys. And all of it found its way into the record.”
WHEN RIVERS MEET | BAND SHOW | Saturday 11 April 2020
When Rivers Meet are a British husband and wife musical duo composed of Grace Bond (Vocals, Fiddle, Mandolin) and Aaron Bond (Vocals, Guitar). Based around masterful vocals and rich harmonies the duo deliver their self-penned material with authenticity and sincerity.
When Rivers Meet received acclaim after reaching number three in the UK Independent Music Charts leading to airplay throughout Europe, Australia, America and Canada.
In 2016 after a chance meeting with Chris West, a Platinum Award Winning Music Producer who had been along to one of their live shows and was impressed by their dynamics and on-stage chemistry, When Rivers Meet travelled to his personal studio in Sardinia, Italy to record their debut album entitled LIBERTY. The studio was set in an idyllic location overlooking a waters meet and a mountain. After two weeks in the studio they returned with virtually a complete album. Eight of the eleven tracks are self-penned, two are highly requested covers they play live and one is a beautiful song called Fingertips by distinguished songwriter Roy Villanis. The album was named after a want to express the freedom 2016 had given them and the arrival of a niece called Liberty. Of the original songs on the album stand out tracks are the heartfelt and superbly delivered You Blinded Me, the up-tempo Postpone and the sultry Americana of the song Greed
Liberty has received rave reviews from Chris Kimsey (Rolling Stones Producer) "..the performances are exemplary, the sound is magnificent, the songs are gorgeous, and I am insanely jealous—this is really wonderful. I love the drama. I love everything."
Earning critical acclaim from media including Simon Redley of Music Republic Magazine "The chemistry between their voices is palpable".The Little Rabbit Barn music evenings are private invitation-only gigs.
Contact us if you'd like to be on the guest list and we will get back to you to confirm.There will be complimentary food and we are suggesting an artist donation from £15.
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Sat25Apr2020
THE WANDERING HEARTS
GUEST LIST FULL | Doors 19:00 | Live 19:30 | Finish 10:45
THE WANDERING HEARTS | SATURDAY 25 APRIL 2020
ANNOUNCEMENT! In Harmony - An Intimate Tour. An evening of songs old and new, and the stories behind them. In April 2020, we’ll be travelling to some towns and cities we’ve never visited before - & some we have - to try and reach as many of you as possible. 2020, here we come!
The Little Rabbit Barn music evenings are private invitation-only gigs.
Contact us if you'd like to be on the guest list and we will get back to you to confirm.There will be complimentary food and we are suggesting an artist donation from £15.
GUEST PLACES FULL
RESERVED LIST FOR CANCELLATIONS AVAILABLEPlease email for link if you have already made contact with us before midday today
Please email for link
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Sat09May2020
LYNNE HANSON and THE GOOD INTENTIONS | HANNAH ALDRIDGE
Doors 18:45 | Live 19:15 | Finish 10:45
LYNNE HANSON & THE GOOD INTENTIONS| Saturday 09 May 2020
Too tough for folk and too blues influenced for country, LYNNE HANSON's brand of "porch music with a little red dirt" can turn on a dime from a sunshine, blue sky ballad to a full-on thunderstorm of gritty Americana swamp from one song to the next. She's known for her high-energy, roots guitar driven live performances, whether playing solo or with her band the Good Intentions. A closet stand-up comedian, Lynne often leaves the audience howling with laughter with her between-song-banter.
Lynne is a two-time Canadian Folk Music Award winner (2018 English Songwriter, Ensemble of the Year with The LYNNeS), a two-time Indie Acoustic Project Alt-Country album of the year winner (River of Sand 2014, Uneven Ground 2017), a past winner of the Colleen Peterson Songwriting Award, and a two-time finalist in the prestigious Kerrville New Folk competition in Texas.
Lynne has performed in venues and festivals across Canada, parts of the United States, and in Europe, had official showcases in Memphis, TN and Austin TX, has toured in support of Grammy nominated songwriters (Gretchen Peters, Steve Forbert), and opened for guitar legend Albert Lee in the UK and Canada.
"Somewhere in the heartlands, in a town called 'Americana USA,' nestles a particular variety of singer songwriter. Someone who views a melodic sensibility through the bottom of a whiskey glass. Canadian songstress Lynne Hanson could run for mayor of that town." - Trevor Raggatt - R2 Magazine - 5 stars
LITTLE RABBIT BARN VIDEO filmed on The LYNNeS duo show with LYNN MILES
OFFICIAL VIDEO
HANNAH ALDRIDGE | Saturday 09 May 2020 |Duo Show with GUSTAV SJODIN from Swedish rock band Jetbone
In literature and in songwriting, the American South is where writers go to face their fears. Hannah Aldridge doesn’t just dip her pen into the well of the South, the Muscle Shoals native embodies it. With every song, she’s facing down demons of a life once lived from substance abuse to failed relationships and scars from the lashes of the bible belt.
“Gold Rush” is Hannah Aldridge’s second album, a follow up to her 2014 debut “Razor Wire.” While that album launched her career, drew the attention of music writers and sent her touring across the world, “Gold Rush” shows a more mature and introspective artist with more life experience — and music experience — under her belt.
The honesty Hannah Aldridge crafts into each track is off-set by her stubborn, maybe defiant, nature, which gives her music a hopeful silver lining.
“I start writing with ‘this is how I’m feeling and I need to talk about it.’ Doing that helps me sort out my own thoughts on it. My music is an introspective look at the things that happened in my life. It’s me trying to sort through and put feelings into words,” she said.
Hannah Aldridge is the daughter of Muscle Shoals legend Walt Aldridge. An Alabama Music Hall of Famer, Walt Aldridge is a prolific and decorated songwriter of countless Number One and Top Ten hits recorded by the likes of Lou Reed, Reba McEntire, Travis Tritt, Earl Thomas Conley, Ricky Van Shelton, Ronnie Milsap, and Conway Twitty.
Mixing her personal life and the sounds of her hometown, Hannah Aldridge’s new album also draws in influences from across the rock genre. Working with people with one foot in country music and one foot in rock, Hannah Aldridge makes a fresh kind of Southern Rock styled by Southern Gothic storytelling.
Recorded at Creative Workshop in Nashville, Hannah Aldridge worked with Muscle Shoals writers such as Mark Narramore, Tosha Hill, Matt Johnson and Brad Crisler and artists such as Andrew Combs, Ashley McBryde, Don Gallardo, Ryan Beaver, and Sadler Vaden on “Gold Rush.” She teamed up with Jordan Dean and M. Allen Parker, who were instrumental in working on her new album, and finally finishing by calling on her Dad, Walt Aldridge, to master the record. In total, Hannah Aldridge compiled a team of distinct talents to work with her. With their help, Hannah Aldridge has put together a progressive, creative and memorable body of work.
“It’s about being self destructive,” Aldridge said of her new album. “That is the underlying tone. The album goes back to when I was younger, and after touching on that, to now. In ‘Aftermath,’ the very first line is: ‘I was born in a crossfire.’ It starts from day one.”
The Little Rabbit Barn music evenings are private invitation-only gigs.
Contact us if you'd like to be on the guest list and we will get back to you to confirm.There will be complimentary food and we are suggesting an artist donation from £15.
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Sat27Jun2020
DENNIS ELLSWORTH w full band
Doors 18:45 Live 19:15
DENNIS ELLSWORTH | FULL BAND SHOW | Saturday 27 June 2020
In 2017, Dennis Ellsworth needed to make a new album. And it was an emergency.
So, who better to call for assistance than Joel Plaskett, who assumed production duties and enlisted his friends, Charles Austin and Dave Marsh, to fully participate. The result IS Ellsworth’s fifth solo LP, Things Change, a brilliant convergence of his irresistible power pop songwriting chops with Plaskett and co.’s trademark vintage guitar-driven sound.
In the past, Prince Edward Island native Ellsworth has never hesitated to seek out the right people for specific projects. It’s led him to build an impressive body of work in conjunction with producer David Barbe (Drive-By Truckers, Sugar), along with CanRock heroes such as Josh Finlayson (Skydiggers, Gord Downie), Hugh Christopher Brown, and Tim Bovaconti (Ron Sexsmith). However, teaming up WITH Plaskett at Joel’s New Scotland Yard studio in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia became a totally immersive experience for Ellsworth that opened up many new creative possibilities.
Ellsworth certainly came more prepared than he ever had before, having spent a considerable amount of time crafting home demos, which he says allowed him to conceive an overall framework for the album rather than viewing it as 12 individual songs. It also gave Plaskett plenty of opportunities to offer his ideas and build on the hooks Ellsworth had already devised.
After two decades of making music in various incarnations, Ellsworth chalks up what he’s accomplished on Things Change in large part to simply being older and wiser. “For years I wrote dark, smooth, romantic alt-country-ish type songs,” he says. “I don’t know how I ever got there but I stuck with it for a while. I love those records, but I knew it was time I switched things up just to keep myself interested.
“So, now that it’s happened, I feel like I’ve entered into this new land of possibility and I’m gonna ride that wave for a bit. I also think my songwriting is getting stronger with every album. I feel like I’ve found a way to get a message across with the perfect balance. It’s still poetic but does a much better job of drawing a listener in with clear messages and some great combinations of words.”
That’s evident right from the new album’s opening track, “The Bottom,” which captures the raw energy of Ellsworth and the band playing essentially live in the studio. It was a conscious choice to leave in a snippet of studio chatter at the beginning since it underscores the magical moment when all of the musicians click and the song takes off in a rush of ‘90s-influenced guitars. That chemistry is also wonderfully captured on the title track, the third of four takes.
However, Ellsworth points to the songs “Absent Mind” and “Caught In The Waves” as clearer examples of how his writing process evolved in the year leading up to the sessions for Things Change. “I went through a period of confusion, complacency and procrastination,” he says. “It was almost like I was frozen in my tracks. I wasn’t so sure I wanted to be a part of the music industry anymore in 2016 and I had no idea what I wanted to write about anymore. All I knew was I wanted to turn the volume. ‘Absent Mind’ is a lighthearted take on knowing that you’ve let things slide and dealing with the consequences.
“‘Caught in the Waves’ is an extension of that state of confusion. I also stopped drinking in 2017 and getting sober has been an interesting journey. I think parts of this song are about knowing you’re sinking from alcohol consumption and acknowledging that you need to make a change for your health. It deals with being off balance in a relationship, whether its love or booze.”
But while Ellsworth may have cut alcohol out of his routine, his support for a certain soon-to-be-legalized substance is displayed on “Stoned,” a song poised to become an unofficial new Canadian anthem starting July 1, 2018. It beautifully ties a bow on an album that, in total, echoes the blissful era of Big Star and Cheap Trick and their later acolytes Teenage Fanclub, The Lemonheads and Matthew Sweet…. not to mention the Joel Plaskett Emergency.
“When I set out to make this record I instinctively felt it would be with Joel,” Ellsworth says. “I knew that we had a lot of similar tastes, and when we started sifting through the songs he picked up on a lot of the influences, which was great. I got nostalgic in my listening patterns and it naturally started to inform my writing because I’m basically a music sponge. It comes to me from so many angles and I return it back to the ether all twisted up.”
Things indeed change, most often when we least expect them to. But sometimes when we know change is necessary, it can force us to finally go places we’ve long put off. Dennis Ellsworth has reached a place he’s always meant to be with Things Change, and thankfully he’s welcomed the rest of us to join him there.
NEW album “Common Senseless
'common senseless is a 13 track album. it was recorded over the past one and a half years with adam gallant at the hill sound in charlottetown, pei. that’s where we live. it’s got a lot to offer. a beautiful variety of songs of love, cynicism, doubt, current affairs, fortune and mental health.'
The Little Rabbit Barn music evenings are private invitation-only gigs.
Contact us if you'd like to be on the guest list and we will get back to you to confirm.There will be complimentary food and we are suggesting an artist donation from £15.
