Lagers & Lyrics III Songwriter Series
Wibby Brewing presents
Lagers & Lyrics III Songwriter Showcase
Hosted by Andrew McConathy of Drunken Hearts
Saturday, November 18th in the Wibby Brewing Lounge
Doors: 5pm | Show: 6pm | Listening Room Setting
Intimate performances by:
David Johnston Yonder Mountain String Band
Dango Rose Elephant Revival
Clay Rose & Don Ambory Gasoline Lollipops
Dan Andree & Tom Knowlton The Fretliners
Kate Farmer
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About your host:
Andrew McConathy Drunken Hearts
Guitar-playing front-man and primary songwriter of Drunken Hearts initially thought a worldwide calamity meant the beginning of the end to a career he’s pursued since 2010. Then an angel of mercy from his past emerged, giving him a second chance to make things right in his life and his songs. McConathy’s story of give and take, rise and fall, and hope lost and found gets the personal treatment on Reckless Ways of Living, his new album.
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About the Artists:
David Johnston Yonder Mountain String Band
Born in Aurora, Illinois, Dave Johnston spent his extra-curricular time at the University of Illinois learning banjo. One year after he started, he was out playing gigs. His first ensemble was a group called Giblet Gravy. Some of the members split off with Dave to form The Bluegrassholes which fell apart due to other members differing sense of priorities (i.e.finishing school). Dave decided that he needed to move to the Northwest in order to hone his banjo playing and was eventually drawn to Boulder, Colorado’s acoustic music scene. Yonder Mountain String Band has created further opportunities for Dave to stretch out on the banjo and become an even more progressive and improvisational player. Dave’s goal is to become an ambassador of acoustic related music as well as a respected player within the strict bluegrass idiom.
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Dango Rose Elephant Revival
Dango Rose embraces a passion for music as a vital healing influence and spiritual path. He creates and collaborates to support harmony and truth. Born with a poet's soul and a warrior's heart his life's journey has been one of transformation.
For seventeen years, Dango traveled nationally and internationally in touring bands. In 2006, he co-founded Elephant Revival and spent eleven years performing and recording with this influential outfit that pioneered the genre, “Transcendental Folk.” Rose penned band favorites like, When I Fall, The Pasture, Jet Lag Blues and others. Since Elephant Revival decided to go on hiatus in May 2018, Dango has taken refuge in the recording studio while focusing upon songwriting collaborations with various artists. Here he melds his background in traditional forms with the more transformational elements of musical craft. As journalist Marc Tonglen explains, “He reminds me of a cross between Leonard Cohen, Cat Stevens and Alan Parsons, while remaining deeply embedded in the progressive Indie-Folk scene. His voice is distinctive, words penetrating and his arrangements— on the edge, yet engaging.
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Clay Rose Gasoline Lollipops
Although his career as a band leader has only spanned a decade, Clay’s solo songwriting career began in 1997. He has written and released nine all-original albums to date. Clay Rose’s ability to tell stories that seamlessly cross genres from folk, to punk, to klezmer, to country, has won him an array of awards. These include: Best Music Video at the Mile High Horror Film Festival 2012, for “Don’t Be Afraid; It’s Only Death” by The Widow’s Bane, Gasoline Lollipops’ Best Country Band Award, by Westword Magazine 2015 and 2018, as well as Colorado Daily’s Best Local Band award for 2015, 2016, and 2017.
Don Ambory Gasoline Lollipops
Don Ambory began playing guitar seriously as a young boy. He grew up outside of Detroit playing a wide variety of music. Choosing to study jazz at the prestigious University of North Texas, Don had the privilege to study with world renowned music educators including Jack Petersen and Rich Matteson. While at NT and playing around Dallas, Don also wrote music for advertising and multimedia. Seeking a larger market, Don left Texas for Chicago and began playing regularly, immersing himself in the historic blues scene, playing with legend Lefty Dizz, among others. Soon Don fell deeply in love with Soul music; writing and recording with many notables including Dell Brown of The Chi-Lites. While spending nights in the Chicago clubs, Don spent days writing music for commercials and freelancing for many jingle houses.
It was at this time that Don formed a love for country music, playing with Chicago legends The Sundowners. Over the next several years Don moved around the country, to New York, Atlanta and then back to Detroit where he finished his education at Wayne State University studying with Detroit legend Matt Michaels (Barbara Streisand, Peggy Lee, Joe Williams). Immersing himself further in music education, Don earned his masters degree from Northwestern University. Don continues to strive for musicality in everything he does, especially in his role as a member of Colorado’s Gasoline Lollipops.
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Dan Andree The Fretliners
Dan was born to fiddle. As a youngster growing up in DeKalb corn country, he fashioned his first fiddling fingers under the tutelage of Ann Montzka-Smelser. He started gigging after joining his first bluegrass group, The Corn Desert Ramblers, in Urbana, IL way back in 2006. Upon graduating bluegrass college, and actual college (Bachelor of Arts in Ethomusicology 2011), Dan made his way to the big city to start his tenure with the Chicago bluegrass powerhouse, The Henhouse Prowlers. Over the course of 4 years, he thrived in 2 American Music Abroad tours to 9 African nations, 2 Arts Envoy tours to Nigeria and Russia, and countless educational and performance engagements both domestic and international. After pursuing a Master of Science in Library and Information Sciences, he moved to Colorado to find life, love, and bluegrass music.
Tom Knowlton The Fretliners
Tom is a phenomenal guitarist, singer and songwriter, hailing from a rich musical background inspired by his Americana roots. At the young age of 6, Tom started his musical career paying tribute to his Celtic heritage by taking up the bagpipes, winning numerous regional bagpipe competitions and becoming one of the youngest pipers in his home state of Wyoming. When he was 14, Tom shifted gears and took to the guitar, following in the footsteps of his father, who put him through the school of bluegrass, forever changing his musical path. During adolescence, Tom competed in local competitions, and secured himself many titles while narrowing in on his unique performance technique and powerhouse vocals. As an adult, Tom spent 2 years as the lead guitarist and co-lead vocalist for Telluride Bluegrass Band Competition winners Wood Belly. Tom celebrated the release of Wood Belly’s most recent album Great Big Skies, contributing many songs to the album. In his free time, Tom shares his passion for music by enriching the lives of others at nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
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Kate Farmer
In her own words, “Well I’ve been singing since before I could talk, and it came so naturally to me, but I’ve struggled with myself to accept this path. I was raised in the tiny mountain town of Jamestown, CO. Music is woven into the fabric of the community there, and most people played, if only just for fun. My parents are both talented musicians, and there were many late-night jams in our garage when I was young. So, I had an amazing community and a lot of positive musical influences in my young life. That feeling of a supportive musical community is something that I still cherish on a deep level, and influences pretty much everything I do. I started performing around age 9, and I was just sure that was it for me.
Is it crazy to say that I’m afraid of failure AND success? I received two competing messages growing up. One, that music isn’t a real career. It’s too competitive, and you won’t make it. You’ll wind up homeless (the actual words of a teacher). Two, I heard a lot of “nobody likes a show-off.” I absorbed that message at a critical time, and it created in me a sense of shame for thinking I might be good enough to have a career in music. I only realized in the last year or so, that some little voice inside of me believes that I won’t be loved if I pursue music seriously.
I’m working on all of this. I go the therapy and I am not ashamed! And I’ve finally entered a place in my life where I’m afraid, and I do it anyway.”
*no outside beverages of any kind allowed*