THE PINES premiere a new song from "Above the Prairie" out February 5

The Pines meld soundscapes with landscapes on "Above the Prairie"  Listen to the first single, "Aerial Ocean" at The Current Headlining tour kicks of January 29 (Release date February 5, 2016; Red House Records) On their forthcoming album, Above the Prairie (Feb 5, Red House Records), The Pines sound like an Eno of the Great Plains.  Exploring the vast expanses around and above them, they find beauty in isolated towns and farms that dot the landscape, and the array of stars that dot the night sky. Rolling Stone’s David Fricke has called The Pines “quietly gripping” and though most of the ten new, original songs on Above the Prairie were captured in just a couple takes, the album represents the band’s most ambitious work to date. Songwriters David Huckfelt and Benson Ramsey, and keyboardist/songwriter (and Benson’s brother) Alex Ramsey, meld a lush, layered sound with vivid, imagistic lyrics and a filmmaker's keen eye for detail and framing, blending celestial, ethereal atmospherics with rich, warm vocals and earthy acoustic instruments. Above the Pines is also a celebration of the community and history that gave birth to it.  On “Here,” the band is joined by Iowa friends and family, including Greg Brown, Iris DeMent, Pieta Brown, and Ramsey patriarch Bo Ramsey, who co-produced the LP with The Pines.  The album closes with ‘Time Dreams,’ a collaboration with American Indian activist and poet John Trudell. The Pines have shared the stage with everyone from Arcade Fire and Bon Iver to Mavis Staples and The Holmes Brothers. Their 2012 LP Dark So Gold was named #3 best album of the decade by the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and Vintage Guitar called it “a soundtrack of American Gothic intensity…a stunner of an album.” The Pines kick off a headlining tour on January 29, see below for a full list of dates. Listen to "Aerial Ocean" Above The Prairie tracklist: Aerial Ocean There in Spirit Lost Nation Hanging From the Earth Here Where Something Wild Still Grows Sleepy Hollow Villisca Come What Is Time Dreams feat. John Trudell & Quiltman The Pines 2016 North American tour dates: 11/21/15 – Madison, WI – High Noon Saloon 11/22/15 – Chicago, IL – Schubas Tavern 11/28/15 – Cedar Rapids, IA – CSPS 12/4/15 – Burlington, IA – The Washington 12/5/15 – Des Moines, IA – Wooly’s 12/11/15 – Mineral Point, WI – Mineral Point Opera House 1/9/16 – Northfield, MN – Northfield Arts Guild Theater 1/16/16 – Lake City, MN – Oak Center General Store 1/29/16 – Rockford, IL – Severson Dells Nature Center 1/30/16 – Goshen, IN – Ignition Garage 1/31/16 – Columbus, OH – Rumba Café 2/2/16 – Pittsburgh, PA – Club Café 2/3/16 – New York, NY – Rockwood Music Hall: Stage 2 2/5/16 – Philadelphia, PA – World Café Upstairs 2/6/16 – Vienna, VA – Jammin’ Java 2/7/16 – Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle – Back Room 2/9/16 – Decatur, GA – Eddie’s Attic 2/10/16 – Nashville, TN – The High Watt 2/11/16 – St. Louis, MO – Off Broadway Nightclub 2/13/16 – Milwaukee, WI – Club Garibaldi 2/20/16 – Sioux City, IA – Vangarde Arts 2/21/16 – Omaha, NE – Reverb 2/23/16 – Houston. TX – McGonigel’s Mucky Duck 2/24/16 – Austin, TX – Cactus Café 2/25/16 – Dallas, TX – Three Links 2/26/16 – Oklahoma City, OK – The Blue Door 2/27/16 – Kansas City, MO – Knuckleheads Websites: http://shorefire.com/client/the-pines http://thepinesmusic.com/   Get Social!

The Pines join Israel Nash for October US dates

THE PINES October North American tour dates with Israel Nash announced New studio album out early 2016 on Red House - details to be announced soon September 24, 2015: With a new studio album set for release in early 2016 on Red House, THE PINES will be giving fans a preview of their new songs on their fall North American tour. They'll be joining Israel Nash for shows on the East Coast and Canada, including Nashville (10/15), DC (10/20), NYC (10/22) and Toronto (10/25). Based in Minneapolis, The Pines' haunting, cinematic folk rock conjures the beauty and desolation of the stark rural landscapes of their native Iowa and the Great Plains. Frontmen/songwriters Benson Ramsey and David Huckfelt share a common musical language rooted in the songs and songwriters of their native Midwest, while each bringing a distinct voice and sensibility to a sound that Rolling Stone’s David Fricke dubbed “quietly gripping.”  This tour will feature the core group of brothers Benson (guitar, vocals) and Alex Ramsey (keyboard, vocals) and Huckfelt (guitar vocals). The band's dark, somberly beautiful songs and poetic lyrics feature Benson and David's intricate guitar interplay layered over Alex's atmospheric keyboard work. The son of Greg Brown’s producer and sideman Bo Ramsey, Benson was reared on folk and blues music and found a kindred spirit in David; they trade off songwriting and lead vocal duties. Their most recent release, 2012’s Dark So Gold, came in at #3 in the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s list of the decade’s best albums. The band played a historic show in 2014 which featured the first Minnesota performance of Native American activist, actor and poet John Trudell in over a decade. Also in 2014, Faribault Woolen Mills, 150-year-old Minnesota company, contacted the Pines to make a special Pines-designed, limited-edition camp blanket available now at the Pines' live shows. Their devoted cult following has led them to share the stage with such diverse acts as S. Carey, Jolie Holland, The Arcade Fire, Iris DeMent, Mason Jennings, Mavis Staples, Bon Iver and The Holmes Brothers.  The Pines "Cry Cry Crow" official video "All the Way" MP3  The Pines website The Pines on Facebook and Twitter Previous press: “A state of emergency runs through these songs, but there is a safe haven too, even if it’s just a dream, and the Pines get there with a warm, drawling poise in their voices and sparse resonant picking.” - Rolling Stone “spooky, country-noir...conjuring a grizzled sky, parched fields and cold wind” - PopMatters “The sparse and haunting mood of the album washes over you like an early morning fog....the poetic lyrics also gently insinuate themselves with every spin.” - Exclaim! "They can go from funny to spooky in a Blonde on Blonde minute." - Dave Marsh PINES 2015 TOUR DATES: # dates with Israel Nash WE 10/14    Little Rock, AR - Stickyz Rock’n’Roll Chicken Shack # TH 10/15     Nashville, TN - The Basement # FR 10/16     Atlanta, GA - The Earl # SA 10/17     Charlotte, NC - The Evening Muse # SU 10/18     Durham, NC - The Pinhook # TU 10/20     Washington, DC - DC9 # WE 10/21    Philadelphia, PA - Underground Arts # TH 10/22     New York, NY - The Mercury Lounge # FR 10/23     Boston, MA - Great Scott # SA 10/24     Montreal, QC - Quai Des Brumes # SU 10/25    Toronto, ON - The Garrison # SA 11/07     Ely, MN - Amici's Event Center TH 11/12     Winnipeg, MB - The Good Will  FR 11/13     Grand Forks, ND - Empire Arts Center  SA 11/14     Duluth, MN - Sacred Heart Music Center SA 11/21     Madison, WI - High Noon Saloon SU 11/22     Chicago, IL - Schubas Tavern SA 11/28      Cedar Rapids, IA - CSPS FR 12/4       Burlington, IA - The Washington SA 12/5       Des Moines, IA - Wooly’s Get Social!

Charlie Parr on tour - "Stumpjumper" film trailer premiering at PASTE

Charlie Parr Film trailer for "Stumpjumper" premiering at Paste Magazine Filmed on location in Minnesota and North Carolina Narrated by Phil Cook (Megafaun, Hiss Golden Messenger) "The raw metallic resonator guitar sound of Charlie Parr registers as a magnet of sorts – in the same way we’re drawn to the curious sounds of Tom Waits and even the indie folk of The Mountain Goats." - Glide Magazine June 18, 2015:  Charlie Parr's new album, Stumpjumper, was not only the first album the folk blues artist has recorded outside of his native Minnesota but his first to feature a full band. The album was recorded in rural North Carolina with producer Phil Cook (Megafaun, Hiss Golden Messenger). Cook put together a band of local players, setting up in an old outbuilding on the “Down Yonder Farm” near Hillsborough, NC to record the album.  Now, Cook and filmmaker Adam Heathcott have put together a short film trailer of the sessions, using additional footage shot around Duluth by Maxwell McGruder.  Phil Cook, a longtime friend and fan of Parr's, provides the narration and captures the feel of the North-South musical collaboration.  "Phil is such an important person to me, so the fact that he's taken the time to do that film is a big deal to me - I feel pretty lucky to be working with him," says Parr. "That part of Hillsborough, NC really reminded me of home and that's what made the record what it is. The first hour we played together there it felt like we'd been playing together for years, the guys were just so comfortable and accomodating. They all give off that 'everything is OK' vibe, and you can hear it in the music." View the trailer now at Paste Magazine.  Listen to the first single, "Over the Red Cedar" While a legend in some circles, Northwoods songwriter/guitarist Charlie Parr may be a new name to some music fans. Long a part of the vibrant Duluth, MN, music scene (Alan Sparhawk and Low, Trampled by Turtles), Stumpjumper is Charlie's first album on Grammy-winning Minnesota indie label Red House. Parr has announced extensive tour dates through 2015; scroll down for a complete listing. Press: "Parr is a picker -- whether on National resonator guitars, dobro, or banjo -- who cut his musical teeth on Charley Patton, Woody Guthrie, and Lightnin' Hopkins, and his actual teeth on the canned meat packed at the Hormel plant in his hometown. A product of both elements, Parr's songs ring out with a working class ethos and a welcome home energy."   - The Bluegrass Situation "Stumpjumper is a deep blues album first and foremost, but it’s Charlie Parr’s master craftsmanship at fingerpicking rhythms, and his folk-leaning songwriting that has liberated him from specific categorization."  - Saving Country Music "The native Minnesotan’s style can best be described as new music from an older time – sometimes dark and desolate, sometimes raucous and danceable."  - Dan Forte (Vintage Guitar) “Parr may have been born during the Nixon era, but you can taste the grit of the Dust Bowl in his music.”  - Dusted “Among the contenders in the every burgeoning indie folk, or new folk, genre, there are a lot of pretenders and acts trying desperately to “look and play the part”, but five seconds in front of Charlie Parr and you know you’re dealing with the real thing.”  - Jim Beckman (KEXP) “John Fahey described the music he collected on American Primitive Vol. 1 as ‘made under the influence of enthusiasm.’ The enthusiasm he spoke of was a kind of possession, whether Christian or diabolical he couldn’t be sure; a mode of ecstatic communication that intervened in the delivery of sacred and secular messages alike. Charlie Parr’s recordings, which make splendid companions to Fahey’s anthology, are similarly enthusiastic.”  - Popmatters Tour Dates: WE 6/24      Asheville, NC - Grey Eagle TH 6/25       Charlotte, NC - US National Whitewater Center FR 6/26       Wilmington, DE - World Cafe Live SA 6/27       Windham, VT - The Frendly Gathering TU 6/30       Ann Arbor, MI - The Ark WE 7/1        Nashville, IN - BigWoods Brewing TH 7/2         Cincinnati, OH - Washington Park FR 7/3         Berwyn, IL - Fitzgerald's-Berwin SA 7/4         Stoughton, WI - Stoughton Opera House TU 7/07       Cleveland, MA - Beachland Tavern TH 7/9         Cambridge, MA - Atwoods Tavern FR 7/10       New York, NY - Rockwood Music Hall 2 SA 7/11       Greenfield, MA - Green River Music Fest SU 7/12       Saratoga Springs, NY - Caffe Lena FR 7/17       Remer, MN - Double Barrel Blues Fest SA 7/18       Stillwater, MN - Stillwater Log Jam SA 7/18       Minneapolis, MN - Patrick’s Cabaret TH 7/30       Dubuque, IA - The Lift FR 7/31       Red Wind, MN - Falconer Vineyard SA 8/1         Somerset, WI - Somerset Amphitheater SU 8/2         Marquette, MI - Ore Dock Brewing FR 8/7         Shell Lake, WI - The Potters Shed SA 8/8         Appleton, WI - Mile of Music SU 8/9         Appleton, WI - Mile of Music FR 8/21       Durango, CO - Durango Blues Train SA 8/22       Durango, CO - Durango Blues Train SU 8/23       Lyons, CO - Oskar Blues Grill & Brew TH 8/27       St. Paul, MN - Minnesota State Fair FR 8/28       St. Paul, MN - Minnesota State Fair SA 8/29       Friendship, IN - Whispering Beard Folk Festival WE 9/2        Minneapolis, MN - Midwest Music Showcase @ Target Field SA 9/5         Duluth, MN - Red Herring Lounge SA 9/12       Ames, IA - DG's Taphouse SU 9/27      Johnsville, CA - Lost Sierra Hoedown WE 10/14    St Cloud, MN - Pioneer Place on Fifth Theatre SA 10/24     Austin, MN - Paramount Theatre SA 12/19     Lake City, MN - Oak Center General Store Charlie Parr on the web: Facebook Twitter Web Site