Northern Lights
Acoustic / Americana / Bluegrass
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"The Northeast's superlative veteran string band."
Connecticut, Massachusetts
United States
Profile Views:
7262
Last Login:
9/23/2008
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http://www.myspace.com/thenorthernlightsband |
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| Northern Lights: General Info
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| Member Since | 3/5/2006 | | Band Website | northernlightsband.com | | Band Members | Bill Henry (guitar, lead/harmony vocals) started playing guitar at age 14, inspired by the music of Eric Clapton, the Allman Brothers and Bob Dylan. But it wasn't until high school, when he was exposed to the genius of Doc Watson and Tony Rice, that his devotion to the instrument and his musical direction was fixed. To encourage his interest in music, his father hand-crafted a guitar that Bill played on stage for many years and still uses for practice. He currently plays and endorses Walker Guitars. The jazz influences that now mark his playing, composing and arranging were nurtured by a year at Boston's Berklee College of Music, plus stints with jazz/swing group Hot Off The Frets and New York City's Charged Particles. A chance meeting with Taylor Armerding in 1981 led to the re-formation of Northern Lights. He has recorded with Marty Cutler, Orrin Star and the South County Rounders, contributed original songs and instrumentals to all of the band's studio albums, and recorded a solo album, RED SKY (OMS Records, 2002). Bill lives in North Stonington, CT, with his wife and their two boys and is a designer at Electric Boat in Groton.
Ben Demerath (guitar, mandolin, lead/harmony vocals) grew up playing and singing classical music in Amherst, MA, but fell in love with acoustic music in college while studying ethnomusicology. In 1992, he co-founded Sugarbeat with banjoist Tony Furtado, mandolinist Matt Flinner and vocalist/bassist Sally Truitt. The band recorded for Blue Planet Music and toured extensively throughout the U.S. and Great Britain. Ben has also released two solo albums-- “Thirty Degrees”, and “Jack Of Fools” on Compass Records in 2000. He has always had a strong passion for bluegrass through Sugarbeat and his solo career. Loose Ties and Sally Van Meter, among others, have covered his songs, and he has recorded with Erin McKeown, Nerissa and Katryna Nields, and Mark Erelli. He recently was asked to sing on the tribute album for the Red Hot Chili Peppers called "Pick My Kiss". Ben lives in Easthampton, MA with his wife and three children, where teaches at The Williston Northampton School.
John Daniel (bass, lead/harmony vocals) is a New England native with a varied musical background. He has toured with Livingston Taylor and the Mamas and the Papas' John Phillips. He appeared on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert and an ABC-TV Gabe Kaplan special with Polydor recording artists Stormin' Norman and Suzy, playing trumpet as well as bass. John has scored several industrial films for clients such as AT&T and Cadbury-Schweppes, and he wrote and produced all the songs for a feature film, And You Thought Your Parents Were Weird. Most recently, he has been performing and recording on bass and guitar with singer-songwriter Brooks Williams. John joined Northern Lights in June, 2002. He is a systems analyst by day and lives in Northampton, MA, with his wife and two sons.
Mike Barnett (fiddle, lead/harmony vocals) a 17-year-old native of Nashville, Tennessee, has played with the Gordon Stone Band and toured nationally with the legendary Jesse McReynolds & the Virginia Boys, including appearances on the Grand Ole Opry. Mike is a real child prodigy, following in the footsteps of Mark O'Connor--he's even mentioned on Mark's website. He is the youngest instructor ever to teach at the Fiddle School at Vanderbilt University (at age 15), and he put out his own CD, “Lost Indian”, in 2004, followed by performing on the Gordon Stone album “Rhymes with Orange”, in 2005. Also in 2005, Mike placed 9th in the Grand Master Fiddler Championship in Nashville. Crystal Plohman, Mike’s mentor and Director of Vanderbilt’s Fiddling Program at Blair School of Music, describes Mike as “one of the hottest, fastest rising musicians in bluegrass music”. Mike is currently a resident of Longmeadow, MA. His website is mikebarnettfiddle.com.
Joe Walsh (mandolin, harmony vocals) is the first student ever admitted to the Berklee College of Music to study mandolin. Since moving to Boston two years ago, Joe has shared the stage with Bela Fleck, Earl Scruggs, Emmylou Harris, Ricky Skaggs, David Grisman, and Gillian Welch, toured New England and the Midwest with Joy Kills Sorrow (a band he helped found, joykillssorrow.com), played at the Kennedy Center and the Country Music Hall of Fame, and performed throughout New England with some of the finest bands in the area, including the New England Bluegrass Band. Joe lives in Cambridge, MA. "Some of the better tone I've ever heard”--Chris Thile. "Fabulous mandolinist. The Sam Bush of Boylston Street"--Matt Glaser, Chair of the String Department at the Berklee College of Music. "Joe is on the verge of becoming a major talent on the mandolin scene"--Peter Ostroushko.
| | Record Label | Fifty Fifty Music | | Type of Label | Indie |
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| About Northern Lights |
Northern Lights, the Northeast's superlative veteran string band, doesn't qualify as typical traditionalist. But over a three-decade career, the band has created its own tradition - a constant exploration of new musical territory without ever losing its acoustic and vocal bearings. From 1990's "Take You to the Sky," to 2005's "New Moon" (Fifty-Fifty Music), the band has fused an eclectic mix of traditional roots music, rock, country, soul and gospel with the high, lonesome vocal sound and instruments of bluegrass.
The group, now a quintet, has performed at festivals and concert halls from coast to coast and abroad, including the Newport Folk Festival, Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, American Folklife Center, Barns at Wolf Trap, Strawberry Music Festival, Walnut Valley Festival, Smithsonian Institute, Festival Sur la Route de Tullins (France), Bumbershoot Festival and the Winnipeg Folk Festival.
They have recorded 10 albums, including “Three August Nights”, a live CD with the late legendary Nashville fiddler Vassar Clements, who often performed with them, and three of their CDs reached the top ten of Bluegrass Unlimited’s National Bluegrass Survey.
Northern Lights performs regularly at arts council events, including series that present a wide range of musical styles, including jazz and classical, and double bills with renowned artists such as Jonathan Edwards.
The two newest members of the band are Joe Walsh, the first student ever admitted to the Berklee College of Music to study mandolin, and 17-year-old fiddle prodigy Mike Barnett, who has already toured nationally with Jesse McReynolds, including performing on the Grand Ole Opry.
The Nashua Telegraph has probably best described this band: "hot enough to peel the paint off your walls".
About “New Moon”, the Sing Out! reviewer says: “The group consistently stands out from the herd; this is no ordinary ensemble, proven again in this latest recording ….. Duck for cover; this album is dynamite, a must-have!”
"Playing as I do so often with Northern Lights has enabled me to explore new and different facets of my "live" concert experience, like the added power and deeper dimension that extra instrumentation and vocal harmony of their caliber can bring to the utter enjoyment of the kind of stuff we do. I thank them for so graciously learning a bunch of my favorite songs and making it so easy for me to just jump up on stage and know that the people are in for a real collaborative treat. I always look forward so much to when our schedules coincide and we can share our collective love of playing live acoustic music together. They continue to evolve and improve with every concert I see them do over these many years and it's always a pleasant surprise to see what they've come up with since the last time our paths crossed. So, keep it up guys, and thanks again for all the music we've played for each other and for the people. See you next time!"
Jonathan Edwards
"These guys are undoubtedly one of the most vibrant and refreshing contemporary bluegrass bands around." --RELIX
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| Northern Lights's Friend Space (Top 20) |
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Northern Lights has 578 friends.
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