The Summer Januaries

“…beautiful, sunny, refined, and above all able to enchant with their voices and the sound of their wonderful songs.” — Laura Castelletti, former President of Brescia City Counsel, Italy, cultural blogger The Summer Januaries are a musical duo comprised of guitarist/vocalist Sean Michael Robinson, and fiddler/vocalist Rachel Erin Robinson. They formed in the summer of 2011 as a busking duo, playing traditional American and Irish fiddle tunes at Seattle’s legendary Pike Place Market. They began injecting these fiddle tunes into densely harmonized arrangements of their favorite songs, and these inventive arrangements soon defined their sound. They have continued writing original music, and have been performing at festivals, farmer’s markets, weddings, and street corners throughout the Pacific Northwest and Europe, where they toured from September 2012 to September 2013. They now reside in San Diego. Guitarist and songwriter Sean Michael Robinson is an author and illustrator, most recently of Down in the Hole: the unWired World of H.B. Ogden. Over the past twelve years he’s written, recorded and released five full-length albums, including three as leader of Seattle’s folk-rock collective Landlord’s Daughter, celebrated as “melodious, theatrical storytellers” by Seattle’s The Stranger. He’s also composed and directed the music for half a dozen plays, most notably Riddled, co-written with Marya Sea Kaminsky, and Anne Frank: Superstar, critical darling of the 2011 Orlando Fringe Festival. Fiddler and songwriter Rachel Erin Robinson is a Minnesota native and recovering classical musician who moved to the Northwest in 2004. Since then she’s played with more than a dozen bands, including Pillow Army (praised by Boing Boing’s Cory Doctorow as “really great goddamn music”), and the Gloria Darlings, which she co-founded. She’s been called a “violinist extraordinaire” by Victory Music, who also praised her “vocals [sung] with an innocent sweetness that delivers the simple wisdom of her lyrics.” As a teenager she attended the legendary Aspen Music Festival at the behest of her uncle, internationally known pianist Leon Fleisher. She has appeared on dozens of albums and compilations. “[Their songs feature] the sinuous intertwining of their voices, the full, near-orchestral sound of their instrumental arrangements, and the thoughtful, often whimsical poetry that forms the basis of their lyrics.” — Carlos Velez, Associate Professor of Composition, Valencia College Check out our new website for our travel blog, music and tour dates! http://thesummerjanuaries.com