JPR Music

On Friday, August 1st at Noon, JPR will broadcast a live session with singer/songwriter Josh Ritter on Open Air.

The band's story started in 2007, when Chris Funk gathered local musicians he admired for a chance to write music and play instruments he wasn't utilizing in his role as guitarist for The Decemberists. He pulled in fellow Decemberists Nate Query and Jenny Conlee, on bass and accordion, Annalisa Tornfelt on fiddle, and Jon Neufeld on guitar. In 2012, Decemberists drummer John Moen joined in, too. Their only ambition was to have fun, and their all-acoustic instrumentation meant they could hold practices in each other's living rooms.

Trevor Hall realized at a very young age that music was more than just a passion. As an eleven year old, playing harmonica beside his father in the cradle of the weeping willows of South Carolina, music quickly became his most intimate companion, guide and creative outlet. In his elementary years, he began to write his own songs and perform them locally.

Amy LaVere was born in a small Texas/Louisiana border town, nurtured by musical parents with a passion for traditional country. Her family moved 13 times by the time she entered high school, ultimately landing in Detroit where Amy fronted the punk band Last Minute while still in her teens. From there, her musical journey became a wild ride of travels.

Nobody expected Lily & Madeleine’s first original song, “In the Middle,” to rack up a half a million YouTube views. The Internet is obsessed with what’s new and what’s next, the fads and memes of viral culture, and so it would have to seem a little incongruous for social networks and content aggregators to embrace gimmick-free, black-and-white footage of an unplugged duo crooning a bittersweet and understated melody.

It may have been 15+ years – from roots in rural Nebraska, through time in ‘Music City’ Nashville, TN, and to the current day relocated to a new home in cosmopolitan Spain – but it seems that the song spirits have been constant companions for Josh Rouse. 

The Show Ponies are an indie-folk outfit from Los Angeles with old time and country influences. Their new album, We’re Not Lost, is proof of the rewards of taking a leap of faith. Funded entirely by crowdsourcing, the album is a realization of both their ardent fan base, and the power of setting a goal and trusting the process. What they’re moving toward is becoming one of the hottest Old-Time groups on of the West Coast, with a stellar sophomore album that flirts effortlessly with a modern new-roots sound and a hard driven progressive beat.

Jillian Rae is a multi-talented violinist, lead vocalist, and songwriter whose creative and dynamic style of violin playing, along with her lifelong experience as a performer, lend her an assured stage presence. She has an innate ability to create hook-laden tunes affirming the positives of life in the face of struggle and disappointment.

Bridging the worlds of indie rock, alt-country, and folk, Louisville, Kentucky native singer/songwriter Dawn Landes got her start after moving to New York to attend N.Y.U. and play music.

Nathan and Rebecca Bliss, the voices and the brains behind Barnaby Bright, are truly the modern day traveling troubadours, averaging roughly 200 shows and 40,000 miles traveled a year. You can find them on streets as far away as London or Amsterdam, and as remote as St. Paris, Ohio, toting their massive haul of instruments: multiple guitars, harmonium, banjo, ukulele, floorboard bass, thumb pianos and keyboards.