Cathy Carfagna
Buffalo, NY native Cathy Carfagna covers a lot of ground. Perhaps best known as a keyboardist and vocalist for the Outlyers and the Vores —and former member of the Jazzabels — Cathy has released a solo CD : “Turn Your Face to the Sun.”
Featuring joyous harmonies and well-crafted arrangements, “Turn Your Face to the Sun” is firmly grounded in American roots music and 60s pop sensibilities. The release includes 11 self-penned compositions, along with covers of songs by Bob Kozak (the Jumpers) and Buck Quigley (the Steam Donkeys). Cathy plays piano, organ, and various guitar parts (slide, electric, acoustic), while some of Buffalo’s finest musicians also lend a hand. Her clear, melodic vocals have earned comparisons to Neko Case and Alison Krauss.
“Turn Your Face to the Sun” was engineered by Jim Calabrese (Soundscape Studios) and Dave Meinzer. It was mastered by Armand John Petri, whose engineering and production credits also include releases by the 10,000 Maniacs, the Goo Goo Dolls, and Sixpence None the Richer. For more information, visithttp://www.myspace.com/cathycarfagna
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Nikki Carrol
Nikki Carroll is a writer and musician born and raised in Buffalo, NY. She was introduced to American roots music when she began harmonizing and playing guitar with fellow Shady Grove musicians Lisa Forrest, Sally Fehskens, and Doug Lambert. Currently dividing her time between Buffalo and Pittsburgh, Nikki is an M.F.A student in nonfiction writing as well as an instructor in composition and creative writing at the University of Pittsburgh, where she received the Edwin O. Ochester Graduate Poetry Award (2011) and the Graduate Nonfiction Award (2012) She is still singing with members of Shady Grove when they find themselves in the same city, and has recently been collaborating with Buffalo band The Cellars on the Root Cellar Project, making music in the (very) wide sound spectrum between Americana and psychadelic surf rock.
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Rob Falgiano
Buffalo, NY artist Rob Falgiano embraces eclectic musical influences and enjoys breaking musical eggs for the thrill of discovery. His new CD “All Star Heart” is an interesting smash-up including: layered electro-pop beats; rhythmic acoustic guitars; ambient blips and bleeps; thumping bass guitar and kick drums; Latin-influenced grooves; and real live strings. Rob has deep respect for classic pop songwriting and feels there are no real barriers between genres. You’ll find catchy, uplifting melodies back to back with expressions of desolation. Whatever works and is honest.
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Sally Fehskens
Sally Fehskens values the capacity of music to transmit timeless stories and to provide windows to the human experience. When she was fifteen years old, her older brother taught her to harmonize and play guitar. Growing up, she played with her family in the “Black Kettle Band,” singing traditional songs and hymns. This led her to be part of the Buffalo-based band, Shady Grove, in 2009. She currently is a solo artist, focusing on songwriting and enjoying unstructured fellowship through music. She has performed at the Elmwood Festival of the Arts, the Roycroft Inn’s Ali Baba Festival, “Project 40K” Care Concerts at Faith Lutheran Church, as well as venues around Buffalo, New York. She is inspired by spontaneous song-circles, Bob Dylan, and upright pianos.
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Lisa Forrest
An award winning poet and two-time Pushcart prize nominee, Lisa Forrest has been involved in Hughes’s annual Robot Holiday project since 2010, where she has penned songs with fellow songwriters Jim Whitford (Uncle Cisco’s Nudie Pen, Old Joy), Doug Lambert (Crazy Hearts, Perfect Snow Song), David Mussen (Winter Moon), and Jonathan Hughes (Robot Love). Forrest’s songs are also featured in Robt Holiday’s War of 1812 project, where she collaborates with Jim Whitford (Snake Hill), and Doug Lambert (Sobbing Sophie).
Forrest currently resides in Clinton, N.Y. where she serves as Director of Research & Instruction Services at Hamilton College. Before relocating to Clinton in 2013, Forrest spent twenty years in Buffalo where she performed with the Best-of-Buffalo nominated Shady Grove (along with Nikki Carroll, Sally Fehskens, and Doug Lambert), and the indie folk duo Honey Girl & the Horseshoe Falls (with Doug Lambert). After Shady Grove dissolved in 2010, Lambert encouraged Forrest to record her own originals. Forrest’s first full-length album, Oh Lake Erie (produced by Jonathan Hughes, 2011), was composed almost entirely at a secluded lake cottage just outside the city lights of Buffalo.
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