Jacob has a way of captivating a room by beginning most of his folk shows with a poem. He has important stories to tell and he delivers them in a collection of beautiful songs reminiscent of some of the pioneers of folk. Listen here.

Matt Morgan has such a beautiful voice. You can hear the weariness and pain as he promises to help a friend escape an abusive home. He has a touch of americana and old country mixed in with his folk songs and his new album is wonderful.  Listen here.

From the opening track you can tell this is going to be a fantastic folk album. The electric guitars, mandolin, and acoustic guitar all trading licks over a steady beat hook you in immediately. In The Water is the perfect opening as it depicts beautiful scenes of nature that pervade the entire album. This is a tight song that doesn't waste any time and the arrangements are stunning. Speaking of arrangements, I know it's no secret that there is a children's choir on the album but OH MAN is that a great entrance for them 2 and a half minutes in on the refrain. "How am I getting hoooome."

One of the smartest aspects of Kandote is how everything builds together. It would be one thing to use songs you already had and just add a children's choir but these songs were clearly put together as part of a bigger idea. They describe the night sky and the outdoors in their first song and as the choir fades you hear wind chimes and what sounds like a gentle evening breeze. They aren't describing Uganda, they are taking you there.

It takes a special kind of musician to make a song with an African children’s choir singing Kumbayah and rain sticks without sounding contrived. Frances Luke Accord pull this off partially because they are such fantastic musicians (listen to the stunning backing vocals on the 3rd verse of Insomnia) and partially because everything about this album is so genuine. Again they didn't add this children's choir to random songs, they put this together for the Barefoot Truth Children's Choir. And this is the spirit of Kandote: inclusion. Whether they are singing an African chorus on the title track or telling "a Spanish tale to the tourists in Rome."

This album has already taken you to Africa. The next track takes you directly to the village of Kkindu right into the Barefoot Truth Children's Choir practice room when Brian and Nick step aside to let their hosts take the lead. You hear the excited chatter and people testing their percussion instruments before the choir instructor begins Amaholo which quickly turns into a call and response chant. The song fades after 3 and a half minutes and although that was the right choice for the album I find myself wishing I was in that room to be present for the chant which I imagine lasted much longer .

Amaholo reinforces something that we have heard in the first 3 tracks. This is a JOYFUL album. There are few things in this world better than music and true joy. Kandote doesn’t ask people to change. It shows them how great it can be to work together.

The fact that this album is so uplifting makes their rendition of Swing Low on the latter half of the album that much more heartbreaking in comparison. I have heard Swing Low Sweet Chariot as many times as I have heard Kumbayah and yet the Barefoot Truth Children's Choir have made me appreciate a song I thought I knew. It is sung with such emotional depth that I can't help but feel chills. 

We end with an instrumental piece expertly arranged with a euphoric “oooo” from the now familiar choir over the mostly instrumental ending. I love that this last track is titled Wasswa and Kato (an African term for male twins). The whole album is about unity and your “long lost brother twice removed darker than the night” and how we can all work together. You can tell there was a lot of growth from both sides over the process of recording but this last song shows that it doesn’t matter what language you speak because music is universal.

Listen to The Puffins contribution to my song "One" track 7 on the album. Out of frame is Alex Hall, vocalist for the Puffins who sang on my track and mixed the whole thing. 

These guys are so good! They recorded and mixed most of the album and you can hear both of them sing on my song MY MG. Also listen to Nick's dynamic percussion throughout.

I've been playing music with Dan Powers for over 10 years. We formed The Overmen with our friend Chris Bentley and reunited to play our 2012 EP in our first performance in over a year! Listen to the EP here.

Thanks again to everyone who came to make this such a magical experience. Until next time.