Category: samples

broken

~ Adam Johnston

I’m not sure how else to introduce this except to just put it right here:

It’s our first ever single, our first ever original song, and a diversion from jazz-ish into something else. There’s a longer backstory, but basically Adam wrote this song, who brought it to the band, who encouraged Caryn to sing it (she’ll still insist that Adam sing the demo version in some live shows), which led to recording it with Scott, who encouraged us to put it out. And now here it is. It’s about real, literal occurrences (even the heart-on-plane reference), but it all distills down to this message that we can all break without being broken. We’re all in a continual process of healing. Sometimes you write something for a specific someone and then realize it’s for everyone, maybe especially yourself.

We’re out in the world this weekend: duo show at Pendry in Park City this evening and a trio show at Two Bit in Ogden on Saturday evening. Check out the gig calendar. We’ll give this its post-release live debut.

Oh, right, almost forgot: Broken is the first in a string of singles for the upcoming album.

funky music

~ Adam Johnston

In case you lost track or wonder what to do in the midst of a long weekend, now is a great time to remind you that we’ll be at the Funk ‘n Dive ($5, 21+) tonight, Saturday 5/24/25, playing music from 9:00p – midnight — and hanging out before, so come say hi! And the following weekend we head back to Grand America and Two Bit. Take a look at the calendar and start planning your summer.

And, in case you missed it, here’s our full set from Van Sessions last month, with individual live tracks pasted into this handy playlist:

Watch and share with friends, family, and strangers. We don’t mind if you flood the internet with our music. And while you’re at it, support our friends at Van Sessions who make these amazing productions and lift up our local music community.

Van Sessions releases this week

~ Adam Johnston

Tracks from our session in the van (or just outside of it) with The Banyan Collective‘s Van Sessions are dropping this week, one at a time, each at 7:00 PM on the Van’s YouTube Channel along with teaser reels on their Instagram channel. The full episode caps it off on Saturday (for Adam’s birthday or by complete coincidence, it’s hard to say).

Here’s the first, released last night: a Sunday kind of love on a Monday night, exactly the juxtaposition we embrace!

Coming up this week: two originals (yup! who knew?) and two more covers that we hope you’ll help us spread around the world, or at least put on repeat in your earbuds.

Special thanks to Brandon and Todd and all of the production team of Van Sessions, with an extra shout out to Scott Rogers at The Proper Way for mixing our sound in their studio. These are people who make the Ogden music community so great and genuinely welcoming. You can share the love by supporting them and live local music from all corners, most especially in the Monarch on the first Friday of every month.

See you online and in person again at the end of the month!

jazz-ish

~ Adam Johnston

We’re getting ready for something big.

But first: Grand America Lobby Lounge this Friday night 9/20/2024, 7:00 – 10:00PM. If you’re in the big city, drop by and get a snack and a drink and say hello. It’s a nice place and we really love the vibe there.

Then, we have a private gig next week and then a few other things …

Including: We’re playing at the Egyptian Theater on Monday, October 7th (free, all ages) as part of the Excellence in the Community Concert Series. We co-headline and get to take the big stage in the beautiful space for a 1-hour set. We’ll remind you and blast out the promotional materials.

But the reason I’m bringing this up now is because in the previews of materials coming out we’re characterized as “jazz.” And that’s fine in most cases as we’re trying to describe how we fit in, especially since in this case we’re side-by-side with a bluegrass band (so fun!!) and it’s great to know what the range might be for your Monday evening.

And yet I start to worry. People who are really aficionados of jazz would scoff at a lot of what we do. Sure, we’ll play Gershwin regularly. But also Dua Lipa. I feel like we might be misrepresenting ourselves to the people expecting Coltrane.

That’s not the worst of it, though: What if you hear “jazz” and you think Coltrane and bebop and you’re turned away by these things and never tune in to us? What if, heaven forbid, you don’t realize that it’s not all dissonant, not all that serious, not long bass solos — Tim refuses.

In fact, I wish we were represented as “jazz-ish.” That feels better, more accurate, appropriately whimsical. Of course, those running gigs at Grand America? That’s when we have to promote ourselves as “jazz.” That gets us in the door and under the big chandelier. So far they haven’t kicked us out.

Anyway, we’ll keep playing around the fringes of jazz as well as blues and funk and soul and everything else. (Caryn just sent us an idea to try out a Taylor Swift piece. You might have heard of her? We think we can swing it.)

It’s been a minute since we wrapped up a summer lineup with our amphitheater gig for Davis Arts. It looked like this:

Kenley Amphitheater preps

~ Adam Johnston

We haven’t made too much of a big deal about this, but we’ve been really really excited about our return to the Kenley Amphitheater since we signed the contract back in the spring. We get to play there again, 60 minutes of uninterrupted, all ages, free music on Sunday, August 25 from 7:00 – 8:00p.

So. So. Excited. We have the setlist with fun new stuff and playful transitions sprinkled in. Adam gets to play the big piano, Matt gets his own drum riser, and Tim’s bass gets pumped through the mains. Cheer as the Diva walks out onto the stage while the band backs her up — it will make her evening and set the mood for the whole show.

More to come as we get even closer!

Here we are on Tim’s patio after the lightning storm passed, rocking the suburbs.