Canadian singer-songwriter formerly known as Oh Susanna.

With its relatively small size and student-faculty ratio, the College is a close-knit academic community. Listen to the stories of Skidmore students, faculty, staff, and alumni and discover why Creative Thought Matters at Skidmore. Thanks to Emma Giles '16 for our logo, and Renato Dornelas '18 and Ian Bakerman '15 for our music.

Sound & Color – the follow-up to Alabama Shakes’ Gold-certified debut album, Boys & Girls, which earned the group three GRAMMY® nominations, including a nod for Best New Artist – will be released in North America on April 21 by ATO Records. Rough Trade will release the album in the UK/Europe on April 20. 

Sound & Color demonstrates the tremendous strides made by Alabama Shakes since the release of 2012’s Boys & Girls. From the gently swaying, chiming title song to the garage-rock freak-out on “The Greatest” to the psychedelic space jam “Gemini,” Alabama Shakes build on the soulful blues-rock base and map a surprising, innovative new direction. 

“We took our time to write this record, and I’m really glad we did,” says lead singer/guitarist Brittany Howard. “We were able to sit down and think about what’s exciting to us. This record is full of genre-bending songs.”

Sound & Color was recorded at Nashville’s Sound Emporium studio. The band co-produced the album with Blake Mills—a young guitar wizard who has helmed sessions by Sara Watkins and Sky Ferreira, and played alongside everyone from Norah Jones and the Dixie Chicks to Lana Del Ray and Kid Rock. 

The success of Boys & Girls paved the way for Alabama Shakes – comprising lead singer/guitarist Brittany Howard, guitarist Heath Fogg, bassist Zac Cockrell, drummer Steve Johnson, and touring keyboard players Ben Tanner and Paul Horton – to become one of the most celebrated live acts in the world, as they delivered unforgettable performances everywhere from “Saturday Night Live” to the main stages of festivals like Bonnaroo and Glastonbury. Boys & Girls charted in the Top 10 in both the U.S. and the U.K. and "Hold On," the Gold-certified lead single, was voted the #1 Best Song of 2012 by Rolling Stone.


Distinguished by close harmonies, catchy melodies and potent lyricism, the T Sisters have created a refreshing brew of indie-folk/Americana music. Blood sisters Erika, Rachel and Chloe Tietjen flow seamlessly between styles and moods, from roots to pop and sassy to sincere, captivating listeners with their eclectic sound and soaring harmonies.

Over the last decade, Seth Walker has become recognized as one of the most revered modern Americana artists in the United States; a three dimensional talent who combines a gift for melody and lyric alongside a rich, Gospel-drenched, Southern-inflected voice with a true blue knack for getting around on the guitar. All Music states, "Walker is deft and elegant, weaving together sounds and stories in a way that has a quiet, lasting impact,” while Country Standard Time declares: “If you subscribe to the Big Tent theory of Americana, then Seth Walker –with his blend of blues, gospel, pop, R&B, rock, and a dash country—just might be your poster boy.”

Currently residing in Asheville, North Carolina, after stints living in Austin, Nashville, and New Orleans, Walker has used those experiences wisely, soaking up the sounds and absorbing the musical lineage of these varied and vibrant places. With a bluesman’s respect for roots and tradition, coupled with an appreciation for—and successful melding of—contemporary songwriting, Seth sublimely incorporates a range of styles with warmth and grace. 

With the release of his memoir 'Your Van Is On Fire’ in February 2021, Seth is also now a published author. This book is a riotous and charming melange of a touring musician’s meandering life. Part memoir, part meditation, part art gallery, it sheds light on the ins, outs and what-have-yous of life inside the mind and van of an artist. The collection includes short essays, poems, and paintings capturing Walker’s early years growing up in a musical family on a Quaker commune, to his discovery of the blues guitar of T-Bone Walker, and his coming of age as an artist. The book centers on his life making music in the southern love triangle of Austin, Nashville, and New Orleans, and includes some hilarious, contemplative, and wild tales from the driver’s seat of the van and other random locales.

The Blind Owl Band was conceived in the fall of 2010 as 4 friends unknowingly crossed pathways and developed this musical nature. The band is composed by Arthur Buezo (Guitar, Vocals), Christian Cardiello (Bass), Eric Munley (Mandolin, Vocals) and James Ford (Banjo, Vocals). Starting in Feb. of 2011 the Blind Owl Band officially formed, and started shows around their home in Saranac Lake, NY in the heart of the Adirondack Mtns. The band views their traditional arrangement as just the start of the musical concept. "Although we look like a bluegrass band we are not. We are The Blind Owl Band, a musical representation of what sounds float around in our heads. We use the instruments of our ancestors, but play music of our time, influenced by all that has happened in the musical world over the past 23 years. We hope we can achieve a unique personal sound through a raw instrumentation. In a time of music and sound perfection and an expansion of the realm through digital processors, we hope to inspire use of wood and metal. To take a basic approach and expanded it to a sound all its own."
In under two years the band has released their debut album "Rabble Rousing" a 15 track album featuring all original music. Heavy regional touring has also insued all over the North East playing over 180 shows in 9 states this past year, appearing at over 10 festivals and shared the stage with:Trampled By Turtles, Railroad Earth, Hot Day at The Zoo, Floodwood, Jatoba, Driftwood, Cabinet, Lucid, Big Leg Emma, The Bloodroots Barter, Gold Town, Eastbound Jesus, The Mallett Brothers and more! It has been a positive start for the Blind Owl Band. They look forward to expanding new grounds in 2013 both on the surface of the earth, and in the noise in the air! This is Adirondack Freight Train String Music. 


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