Event Description

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“Few things rejuvenate the soul like a warm fireside drink after an exhausting day in the snow. Hot Buttered Rum has that effect. Their original songs are instantly familiar and inviting, and their easygoing versions of timeless classics (the Beatles, Hank Williams) belie the intricacy of the arrangements.” –San Francisco Chronicle

Hot Buttered Rum lives for songs. Songs to sing in the shower. Songs to crank through your earbuds at the DMV. Songs to name your babies after, and then make more babies to. The band’s three songwriters — Aaron Redner, Nat Keefe and Erik Yates — spin tales about the good times, the bad times, and the roads in between, and belt them from the heart in three-part harmony. Bryan Horne’s athletic standup bass and Lucas Carlton’s tasteful percussion combine with the acoustic instruments to create what is California’s own acoustic music.

Hot Buttered Rum lives for a good time. The group’s onstage chemistry fuels the lovefest that is a live HBR show. A mindful recklessness settles in whenever these five guys step out of their front doors in northern California to entertain crowds from Anchorage to Miami. Hot Buttered Rum’s years of touring have given the band the chance to work and play with a wide cross-section of musicians, people like Phil Lesh, Chris Thile, Brett Dennen, and Robert Earl Keen. Seasoned veteran Steve Berlin (Los Lobos), acoustic guru Mike Marshall, and left-coast rocker Tim Bluhm (Mother Hips, Nicki Bluhm) have all produced studio albums for the band. Each guided HBR towards the next step in its evolution. It’s a sound that’s as tough to describe as it is easy to love, and it has found its way to the most prestigious pop, folk, and bluegrass stages in the country: Telluride, Newport, Bonnaroo, Strawberry, Hardly Strictly, Kate Wolf, Horning’s Hideout, String Summit, Grey Fox, All Good, High Sierra, Wakarusa, and many more.

At the center of Hot Buttered Rum is the enduring camaraderie of five best friends. The band was conceived on a backpacking trip of high school and college buddies in the High Sierra. What was dreamed up on mountaintops and around campfires has found its way into the hearts, minds, and bodies of thousands. For interviews or more information please contact Barney Kilpatrick, (770)518-6434 barney@rattlesby.net

Hot Buttered Rum

Initially formed as an acoustic string band, seven years of constant touring has transformed Hot Buttered Rum into a plugged-in, percussive powerhouse that wows critics and fans alike. Their left-coast rock reveals an access to jazz, country, and world music that few groups can match. While the band’s music belies simple categorization, its songwriting and stage chemistry delights listeners at every turn.

Hot Buttered Rum’s story is one of evolution. The “high altitude bluegrass” era captured on their first studio album, In These Parts, found the band enjoying success at such diverse stages as the Newport Folk Festival, Bonnaroo, Grey Fox, High Sierra, Wakarusa, and the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. Along the way, the group shared the stage with some of today’s most accomplished artists, including Phil Lesh, Bela Fleck, Ben Harper, and Nickel Creek’s Chris Thile. In 2006, acoustic pioneer Mike Marshall produced Hot Buttered Rum’s second studio album, Well-Oiled Machine, and captured the sound of a hard-touring band charting its course along the highways and byways of American music.

The continued expansion of Hot Buttered Rum’s sound and writing found a home in Live in the Northeast. More electric pickups made their way to the stage, along with an increased focus on songwriting.

Cabinet

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One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. Those were the words spoken by Neil Armstrong as he walked on the moon. After years of hard work we achieved the impossible, forever leaving a mark in the world consciousness. Cabinet's 4 th record, LEAP, is exactly that for this sometimes ragged, all the time professional band of American dreamers from Pennsylvania. After years of tearing apart American music and building it up again in their own vision, Cabinet has unveiled a work that perfectly defines…. Cabinet. The rough hewn structure that began as six musicians with divergent styles coming together has been whittled, sanded, and polished through persistence and hard work. The result is an impressive structure that shows each of the players and their unique contribution in simple, elegant beauty.

Leap was recorded live in the studio, over four days with a live audience. The result is a flawless recording that leaves the listener with the feeling that they too were there. No digital perfection is needed, because they nailed it right then and there. From the first few notes you can tell that this is a recording to own, to savor, and to explore. JP Biondo's soothing vocals speak of innocence and longing, with Pappy Biondo's delicate and deliberate banjo keeping time like a boxcar clicking along the tracks. Dylan Skursky's bass is ever present; as a live recording you can feel the bass like it is right in the room. Enter the fiddle treatments of Todd Kopec, creating a haunting full-moon -at-night landscape one moment, and an avant-garde, almost electronic accompaniment the next. All the while Mickey's guitar is stepping in and out with perfect rhythm, and JP 's mandolin building tension at every chance. And behind everything, in the middle, and all around is the careful ear and hand of Jami Novak - a drummer who knows what's around every corner. This is a band that wants to play music, that loves to play music. You can hear in each song a bridled optimism, like they are just waiting to take you on an extended journey across the countryside. It is this tension, perfectly crafted with each player trading licks, that holds the listener in rapt attention.

Cabinet is a band that has outgrown any "regional favorite" tag and has progressed to a broader fanbase, all while retaining their signature sound. The band has played many great venues and festivals (CMJ 11, SXSW 11 & 12, musikfest 10 & 11, Floyd Fest '12, Peach Music Festival '12, Philadelphia Folk Festival '12 to name a few) across the land and has shared the stage with Yonder Mountain String Band, Allman Brothers, Pokey LaFarge, Yarn, Delta Rae, Zac Brown, Infamous String Dusters, Railroad Earth, Rusted Root, Hoots & Hellmouth, Blackberry Smoke, Hot Buttered Rum, Cornmeal, Dark Star Orchestra, Keller Williams, Hackensaw Boys, 7 Walkers, New Riders of the Purple Sage and many, many more. Cabinet formed in 2006, bringing together players from various musical and personal backgrounds. Some of the members are barely old enough to drink legally, but their thirst for older music is unquenchable. Whether its rustic "American Beauty"-era Grateful Dead or old-timey bluegrass, Cabinet has digested it all. But that is not to say that Cabinet recreates older styles. No, this is music that might have its roots in the past, but it is current and vibrant, with a sense of celebrating the now. The band self-released a debut album, "Cabinet," before signing with Ropeadope, which took notice and re-released that album digitally.