As an independent artist/songwriter Luke Cunningham has spent years on the road touring alongside such nationally-renowned acts as The Fray, Avett Brothers, Donovan Frankenreiter, Pat Benatar and countless others. Yet it would ultimately be the release of the songwriter's debut solo album Heart Pressure (2012) that first forced music fans and critics alike to sit up and take notice. 

Hailed by press as “a triumph fraught with emotion” and “a welcomed reminder of what songwriters used to be” the response to Heart Pressure and its ten story-driven songs were a swift and sweet sucker punch to the Carolina music scene; an artfully-crafted wake up call announcing both Cunningham’s arrival as an artist and a writer with something to say.

By year’s end, two songs from Heart Pressure (For The Best and Songs About California) were in permanent radio rotation throughout the Carolinas, despite having neither label support nor paid radio campaigns to support them.The latter of the two tunes—a duet performed with Cary Ann Hearst of the Americana Award-Winning act Shovels & Rope—would go on to become a top-requested song on Charleston SC’s 105.5FM The Bridge and the album named one of the ‘Top Five Albums of The Year’ by Charleston Scene Magazine.

Cunningham’s commitment to his craft didn’t go unnoticed either. 

Profiled in national publications such as American Songwriter Magazine and nominated ‘Songwriter of The Year’ by Charleston City Paper, he was also hand-picked the by ASCAP (American Society of Authors and Composers) to be one of just 14 nationally-selected songwriters for their prestigious Lester Sills Songwriters Workshop in Los Angeles. The experience would lead to multiple soundtrack and film placement opportunities for the South Carolina songsmith as well as the formation of his own self-ran/administrated music publishing company.

In 2016 Cunningham answered battle cries for a follow up to Heart Pressure by entering the studio and recording his latest EP Kentucky. Released in October, the six-song collection draws deep from the wells of bygone country while retaining a familiar taste of modern tones, anthemic choruses and the kind of addictively-catchy hooks Cunningham has come to be known for. 

Tipping its hat to the musical influences he grew up around in the rural tobacco fields of the Bluegrass State, the stories themselves—as well as Cunningham’s ability to spin a good yarn—leave the listener personally-invested in each tale that unfolds. The result is a sonically-masterful tightrope, traversing the genres of country, rock and Americana with grace and grit; proof that—in modern country music—one mustn’t always abandon ‘substance’ for the sake of ‘style.’

Today Luke Cunningham resides in Nashville TN where he currently works as an independent commercial songwriter. Cowriting with up-and-coming country acts, collaborating with new artists and working alongside music supervisors and producers for various TV/film projects, he continues to occasionally tour and is a regular at writers-in-the-round events and venues throughout Nashville.

Cunningham’s latest EP Kentucky is now available on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and other online music retail stores.

For more info, news, music and tour dates visit:
www.lukecunninghammusic.com

Ólafur Arnalds is a BAFTA-winning multi-instrumentalist and producer from Mosfellsbær, Iceland. Ólafur Arnalds mixes strings and piano with loops and beats crossing over from ambient/electronic to pop.

“There’s this great duality to our band,” reflects Greensky Bluegrass mandolinist, vocalist, and songwriter Paul Hoffman. “We’re existing in a few different places at once: we’re a bluegrass band and a rock band, we’re song-driven and interested in extended improvisation.”

“We play acoustic instruments,” adds dobro player Anders Beck, “but we put on a rock’n’roll show. We play in bigger clubs and theaters, there’s a killer light show, and we’re as loud as your favorite rock band. It’s not easy to make five acoustic instruments sound like this – it’s something we’ve spent years working on.”

From these seemingly irreconcilable elements, the five members of Greensky Bluegrass have forged a defiant, powerful sound that, while rooted in classic stringband Americana, extends outwards with a fearless, exploratory zeal. The tension and release between these components – tradition and innovation, prearranged songs and improvisation, acoustic tones and electric volume – is what makes them so thrillingly dynamic, in concert and on record. “In theory,” Hoffman explains, “greensky is the complete opposite of bluegrass. So, by definition, we are contrasting everything that isn’t bluegrass with everything that is.”

Available June 11th! Pre-order on iTunes!

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/southeastern/id644761037?uo=4

Gerry Monaco is following