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Event
DELLA MAE with very special guest MIKE BLOCK
Saturday 6/1
DELLA MAE
with special guest
MIKE BLOCK
$18 advance / $20 at the door
8:30 doors / 9:00 show
www.dellamae.com
www.mikeblock.net
DELLA MAE - In a relatively short period of time, Della Mae has become a sensation in the music world. Commanding a powerful collective chemistry with vocal, instrumental, and songwriting talent to spare, the Boston-based combo mines time-honored elements to create music that's unmistakably fresh and contemporary.
MIKE BLOCK - HAILED BY YO-YO MA as the "ideal musician of the 21st Century", Mike Block is a pioneering multi-style cellist, composer, and educator living in Boston. While still studying at the Juilliard School, Mike joined Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble, and shortly thereafter also joined Mark O'Connor's Appalachia Waltz Trio, which he played in for over three years. Mike has also toured extensively with Darol Anger's Republic of Strings and The Knights orchestra.
DELLA MAE (cont.) - The group quickly won an enthusiastic following through their high-energy live performances at festivals around the country. The band expanded its reputation with their self-released first album, 2011's I Built This Heart, which won an impressive amount of attention for a D.I.Y. release.
This World Oft Can Be, Della Mae's second album and Rounder debut, shows that like the Avett Brothers, Lumineers, and Punch Brothers, these five multitalented young women are respectful of American musical tradition, but not restricted by it, combining centuries' worth of musical influences with an emotionally tough, undeniably modern songwriting sensibility.
This World Oft Can Be's 12 songsincluding such engaging originals as "Empire," "Paper Prince," "Maybeline" and the feisty title trackshowcase the fivesome's world-class instrumental abilities, lilting harmonies and subtly commanding lead vocals. Although the musicians' sublime skills have already won them numerous individual honors, the album's focus is squarely on the band's emotionally potent songs and spirited, effortlessly expressive performances.
"The identity that we've developed as a band is a melting pot of our different personalities and backgrounds," asserts founder, Kimber Ludiker. After having the idea at a summer festival, Kimber hand picked musicians from all over the country: singer Celia Woodsmith comes from a blues/rock background, guitarist Courtney Hartman studied at Berklee College of Music, bassist Shelby Means played with various bands in Nashville, and mandolin player Jenni Lyn Gardner was schooled in traditional bluegrass. Della Mae's members hail from all over the United States, and the five women each bring impressive musical resumes amassed in their previous ventures.
Della Mae recorded This World Oft Can Be at Cash Cabin Studio, Johnny Cash's former recording base, in Hendersonville, Tennessee, with noted guitarist Bryan Sutton in the producer's chair. (Artists who have recorded at Cash Cabin over the years include Rosanne Cash, Elvis Costello, Emmylou Harris, Merle Haggard, and George Jones). In addition to absorbing the studio's inspirational vibes, Courtney Hartman played June Carter Cash's vintage 1933 Gibson L5 Round Hole guitar on "Some Roads Lead On," while Ludiker had the honor of borrowing John Hartford's custom carved fiddle on "Letter From Down The Road." The album was mixed by Paul Q. Kolderie, whose production resume includes albums with the likes of Hole, Radiohead and Dinosaur Jr.
"The whole band had a big part in arranging the songs, most written by Celia and Courtney, and together we molded them into what you'll hear on the album," Ludiker notes, adding, "The vibe at Cash Cabin Studio is incredible, and we did a lot of live recording. We overdubbed vocal harmonies and solos here and there, but it's basically just us playing together in the same room. 'Some Roads Lead On' was captured on one microphone, in one take."
In addition to playing festivals and clubs throughout the United States, Della Mae recently expanded the scale of its touring efforts after participating in the U.S. State Department's American Music Abroad program. Selected as cultural ambassadors, the band spent 43 days traveling in Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, where they collaborated with local musicians, taught educational programs for children, and played concerts for local audiences.
"It's been a life-changing experience for us, individually and as a band," Ludiker says of the tour. "A cool thing about playing music in Central Asian countries is in the lack of distinction their audience places between musical genres. We found that if music is played with feeling, all people connected to it. They find themselves smiling and relating without even understanding the language."
Indeed, Della Mae demonstrates how effectively music builds bridges and transcends artificially constructed borders, whether they're national or genre-based. Ludiker concludes: "All five ladies are individually driven, and we are working towards the same goal. This band definitely feels like a calling, a labor of love."
HAILED BY YO-YO MA as the "ideal musician of the 21st Century", Mike Block is a pioneering multi-style cellist, composer, and educator living in Boston. While still studying at the Juilliard School, Mike joined Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble, and shortly thereafter also joined Mark O'Connor's Appalachia Waltz Trio, which he played in for over three years. Mike has also toured extensively with Darol Anger's Republic of Strings and The Knights orchestra.
HIS MOST RECENT ALBUM of original songs, Brick by Brick, features music he wrote and recorded while missing nine teeth, as the result of a traffic accident. In 2011, Mike released Naive Melody, an instrumental folk album with The Triborough Trio, and in 2009 and 2010, released two albums of original music with The Mike Block Band: Words R Words (songs), and After the Factory Closes (instrumental).
A DEDICATED TEACHER AND CLINICIAN, Mike founded the Mike Block String Camp in Vero Beach, Florida in 2010, which empowers students to compose, arrange, and perform music by ear, with instruction in multiple non-classical styles. The camp has since expanded to a second week for Advanced students, as well as additional locations in Michigan, Maine, and NYC, where Mike directs the Brooklyn Pop String Camp. In 2012, Mike was appointed Associate Professor at the Berklee College of Music (Boston), and he has been an ongoing Guest Artist/Teacher at Southern Methodist University (Dallas) since 2009. From 2009-2012, Mike was also Lead Teaching Artist for Silk Road Connect, an AIE program in NYC and Boston public schools through which Mike presented with musicians, dancers, and artists from across the world.
MIKE HAS SERVED AS MUSIC DIRECTOR for musicians as diverse as Yo-Yo Ma, Bobby McFerrin (Grammy-winning vocalist), Marcus Printup (trumpeter from Jazz@Lincoln Center), Emalie Savoy (singer at Metropolitan Opera), Lil' Buck (hip-hop dancer), Damian Woetzel (Principal at NYC Ballet), Bill Irwin (Comedian/Actor from Sesame Street), the Silk Road Ensemble, and the Knights (Classical orchestra). Other musicians Mike has performed with include will.i.am (Black Eyed Peas), Allison Krauss, Edgar Meyer, Mike Marshall, Zakir Hussain, The National, Bon Iver, My Brightest Diamond, Tim O'Brien, Rachel Barton-Pine, Marcel Khaliffe, Goran Bregovic, Simone Dinnerstein, Dawn Upshaw, Anthony McGill, and he has recorded with Lenny Kravitz, Shakira, Joe Zawinul, Alasdair Fraser, and many others. Mike was also selected by Yo-Yo Ma to serve on the founding Leadership Council (2011-2012) of the Silk Road Ensemble.
MIKE HAS PERFORMED on "Late Night with Conan O'Brian", "Regis and Kelly", NBC's 30 Rock, NPR's "St. Paul Sunday Morning", WNYC's "Soundcheck", APM's "Performance Today", WNBC 4's Chuck Scarborough Show, VH1, The Disney Channel, and the CBS "Early Show". Mike regularly subbed as on-stage cellist in the Pulitzer Prize winning Broadway Musical, "Next to Normal", and he also worked with the director of the 2012 film, "A Late Quartet", as a Music Consultant. Mike was the subject of a 2011 feature article in the Wall Street Journal for his Artistic Directorship of the GALA BROOKLYN Music Festival, and was reviewed by the NY times as having "vital, rich-hued solo playing".
MIKE RECEIVED THE 2004 JIM HALL PRIZE FOR UNDERGRADUATE ACHIEVEMENT at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied cello with Richard Aaron. Mike also earned a Master's Degree from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Darret Adkins and Joel Krosnick. These days, Mike proudly uses a cello from the Wayne Burak Shop, as well as D'Addario strings, and a David Gage Realist Pick-up.
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LocationThe Lizard Lounge (View)
1667 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States
Categories
| Minimum Age: 21 |
| Kid Friendly: No |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
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Contact
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