(le) poisson rouge

Renowned singer-songwriter John Wesley Harding, hailed by Rolling Stone as, “a literate and ironic neo-folkie with enough bile to win over a younger, hipper audience not attuned to folk music,” recently released his latest album, Who Was Changed And Who Was Dead , via Popover Corps/Rebel Group. In support of the record Harding will be reviving his three-show residency at Le Poisson Rouge on March 25, April 15, and May 20. Part variety show and part concert, the Cabinet of Wonders will draw together collaborators from the worlds of music, literature, comedy and even ventriloquism all hand-picked by Harding himself. “I wanted to bring together my novel writing friends (who mostly envy my musician friends) and my musician friends (who mostly envy my novel writing friends) under one flag,” says Harding. “The fact is: I like everyone who’s performing.”

You can read about their 11/18/09 show at LPR here.

Over the past decade, Freedy Johnston has quietly emerged as one of the most significant songwriters of our generation. His 1990 debut on Hoboken's Bar None Records, The Trouble Tree, got a warm reception from those lucky enough to discover it, especially in Holland, where it spawned a hit single.

His second album, 1992's Can You Fly, was one of that year's most critically-acclaimed, showing up on year-end best-of lists from coast-to-coast, including Spin, Billboard, People, Musician and The New York Times.

This Perfect World, Johnston's 1994 Elektra debut, was another big step forward. A lush Butch Vig Production that extended his unbroken streak of critical praise, featured his first U.S. hit, "Bad Reputation." Rolling Stone named Freedy their songwriter for the year and declaired, in a four-star review, that "Freedy has joined the elite cadre of songwriters — Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Elvis Costello — whose brilliant pop compositions turn magical with the addition of a defiantly, idiosyncratic singing voice."

In 1997, Freedy turned up the volume with the acclaimed Never Home, highlighted by the rock hit, "On the Way Out." All the while, Freedy toured with such artists as Sheryl Crowe, Shawn Colvin, Soul Asylum, The Lemonheads, Matthew Sweet and Cowboy Junkies, among others.

On Blue Days, Black Nights, Freedy turns the volume back down again, delicate melodies and gentle arrangements recorded almost entirely live in the studio.

Sarah Vowell is the New York Times’ bestselling author of five nonfiction books on American history and culture. By examining the connections between the American past and present, she offers personal, often humorous accounts of everything from presidents and their assassins to colonial religious fanatics, as well as thoughts on American Indians, utopian dreamers, pop music and the odd cranky cartographer.

Vowell’s most recent book, The Wordy Shipmates, examines the New England Puritans and their journey to and impact on America. She studies John Winthrop’s 1630 sermon “A Model of Christian Charity” – and the bloody story that resulted from American exceptionalism. And she also traces the relationship of Winthrop, Massachusetts’ first governor, and Roger Williams, the Calvinist minister who founded Rhode Island – an unlikely friendship that was emblematic of the polar extremes of the American foundation. Throughout, she reveals how American history can show up in the most unexpected places in our modern culture, often in unexpected ways.

Her book Assassination Vacation (2005) is a haunting and surprisingly hilarious road trip to tourist sites devoted to the murders of presidents Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley. Vowell examines what these acts of political violence reveal about our national character and our contemporary society.

She is also the author of two essay collections, The Partly Cloudy Patriot (2002) and Take the Cannoli (2000). Her first book Radio On (1997), is her year-long diary of listening to the radio in 1995.

Vowell was a contributing editor for Public Radio International’s This American Life from 1996-2008, where she produced numerous commentaries and documentaries and toured the country in many of the program’s live shows. She was one of the original contributors to McSweeney’s, also participating in many of the quarterly’s readings and shows. She has been a columnist for Salon.com, Time and San Francisco Weekly and continues to write occasional essays for the opinion page of the New York Times.

Vowell has made numerous appearances on the Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O’Brien and the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. She is the voice of teen superhero Violet Parr in Brad Bird’s Academy Award-winning The Incredibles, a Pixar Animation Studios film.

Vowell is the president of the board of 826NYC, a nonprofit tutoring and writing center for students aged 6-18 in Brooklyn.

I started using comedy as a defence mechanism in junior high and high school and then turned it into a career, once it became clear that I make a terrible temp. I moved to Brooklyn eight years ago from Somerville, MA. Sometimes, I am on television (which makes me professional!). I’m a regular on HBO’s Flight of The Concords, and on Adult Swim’s Delocated. Sometimes you can catch my half hour special on Comedy Central. I voiced the nun on Lucy, Daughter of the Devil. My first book, The Will to Whatevs , is now out from Harper Perennial.

More: Interview at Pitchfork.com

Errollyn Wallen, renaissance woman of contemporary British music,' is as respected as a singer-songwriter of pop influenced songs as she is a composer of contemporary new music. Communication is at the centre of both worlds: engaging the audience, speaking directly to hearts and minds.

Born in Belize, Errollyn Wallen gave up her training at the Dance Theater of Harlem, New York to study composition at universities of London and Cambridge. She founded her own Ensemble X and its motto, we don’t break down barriers in music… we don’t see any, reflects her genuine, free-spirited approach and eclectic musicianship. She has been commissioned by outstanding music institutions from the BBC to the Royal Opera House and has performed her songs internationally.

Errollyn Wallen’s song Daedalus appears alongside songs by Björk, Sting, Elvis Costello and Meredith Monk on the Brodsky Quartet’s recent CD 'Moodswings'. The two solo albums Meet Me at Harold Moores and most recently Errollyn feature her songs in her own voice/piano performance and in collaboration with outstanding jazz artists. Her multi-media show Jordan Town, a modern day song cycle with dance and film, was a sell-out hit at the Edinburgh Festival. The Errollyn Wallen Songbook published by Peters Edition comprises twelve of her celebrated songs for voice with piano accompaniment.

Something of a one-man mixture of the Cramps, Beck's early indie records (circa One Foot in the Grave), and the soundtrack to O Brother Where Art Thou, singer and guitarist Langhorne Slim offers a sardonic, modern take on traditional folk, country, and lues. Fancifully dubbed "the bastard son of Hasil Adkins" in some of his early press releases, Langhorne Slim is in fact a Pennsylvania native who resettled in Brooklyn after his graduation from the State University of New York at Purchase. After a self-released demo garnered some local and online attention (as well as a semi-regular gig as the opening act for indie novelty outfit the Trachtenberg Family Slideshow Players), Langhorne Slim signed with the indie label Narnack Records and released his first EP, Electric Love Letter, in March 2004. The more varied and band-oriented full-length When the Sun's Gone Down followed in the spring of 2005. Much touring ensued over the next year, including support dates with Lucero and Murder by Death, with drummer Malachi DeLorenzo and upright bassist Paul DeFiglia (aka "the War Eagles") in tow. In 2006, Langhorne Slim signed with the larger (though still not major) label V2 Records, which released the all-new EP Engine in September of that year, as the singer was finishing recording his second full album, produced by Josh Ritter's keyboardist, Sam Kassirer. The deal fell through, however, and the band was left labelless. Langhorne Slim found a new home on Kemado Records, who released the self-titled album in the spring of 2008.

Watch: Langhorne Slim live @ Waterloo Records (Austin, TX)

Watch Langhorne Slim perform their song "Back To The Wild" on WNRN.

My name is John Roderick and I am the songwriter and guitarist in the Long Winters. I grew up in Anchorage, AK, which is a drowsy little city, perched on the very lip of the civilized world. Like most small American towns, Anchorage is a conservative and insular little shithole, but because it’s surrounded on all sides by Alaska it has the good fortune to be a jumping-off point for every kind of maniac and outlaw, and it was from these salty characters that I learned all the truly important life-lessons: keep your powder dry, know a good Audi mechanic, and never feed your dogs first. As an American teenager I was only dimly aware of how stupid I was until I got out into the world and saw it for myself.

I love making records and playing music—it’s a pretty good life for a person like me—and I’m lucky to have played with some great musicians. I’m a little bit of a dictator, maybe, and I have a sharp tongue, but to balance it out I’m also paranoid and greedy. Still, there are so many people in the world, (6.4 billion) that even an unlikable and grouchy little Napoleon like me is able to find plenty of talented musicians to be in his band.