SHADY MAPLES

Shady Maples' debut 2012 album is a boiling concoction of acoustic, lapsteel and electric guitars, organs, mandolin, and harmony. Singer songwriter and guitarist Owen Roberts wraps "visceral lyrics" (SF Chronicle) around hard driving and kick back melodies for a sound that swells and recedes. After two years touring the west coast and a successful crowd funding effort, Roberts and co-producer Greg Peters holed up at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley with drummer Trent Boeschen, bassist Dennis Haneda, Brooklyn Bill Bell and his pump and Hammond organs, and Bay Area songstress Kelly McFarling. KQED describes the album as "perfectly Californian" in its lyrical treatment of nature and social consciousness, and NBC San Diego calls the sound "explosive" and "dynamic." Live they are joined by cellist Shira Lee Katz and Micah Dubreuil with is Hammond organ Old soul rock and roll, Americana, Latin and folk with Bay Area roots and branches.