Folksy Friends from the North

Their voices sync in magnetic harmony as they sing over the basic guitar chords that Keith (a Canadian Idol semi-finalist) admittedly found on Google. After ten years of playing together, the folky Canadian duo, Keith MacPherson and Renee Lamoureux, have released three albums, toured the U.S. and Canada, and volunteered in Kenya. Their third album, Revolution, a mix of sounds reminiscent of Sheryl Crow and the Indigo Girls, was a “true collaboration” between the two and urges listeners to live active, positive lives. Up next is a tour of high schools throughout the U.S. and a performance at the Millennium Summit in Montreal.

Keith and Renee exude unity on and off the stage. “We can literally write a song as one,” says Renee. The chemistry between them isn’t only musical. “We’re like Fleetwood Mac, only we get along,” jokes Keith. And when it comes to performing a good breakup song, what’s more impassioned than a duet sung by exes? Oh, and Dick Clark, if you’re reading this: Keith and Renee very much want to play “Good Year” on New Year’s Eve in Times Square.
http://www.keithandrenee.com/

THE SNL ROYAL TREATMENT

The new guitarist in NBC’s Saturday Night Live band brings both an encyclopedic knowledge of music and a genuine connection to the jamband cene to national TV. “I learned over 150 songs for this season before I even showed up for rehearsals,” admits Jared Scharff. “Technically, the band could play for a day if they wanted. We would drop dead, but…” The gifted young artist also has a talent for writing pop-rock ear candy laced with guitar-hero theatrics, supplemented with a historical study of improvisation. “[Now-closed club] The Wetlands was my home away from home when I first came to college. I eventually started playing there, which had always been a dream of mine. Great things were going on, and it wasn’t just another music venue in New York City.” The guitarist/vocalist also fronts Jared Scharff  & The Royals, with whom he released The Coast and is currently finishing another EP. “I grew up a classic rock and jamband fan, and I was a huge three-and-a-half minute pop song fan. My band is an accumulation of that.” www.myspace.com/jaredscharffmusic

21ST CENTURY PSYCH

The members of Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound come on like bombs and laser beams—so they named their second album, Ekranoplan, for a hulking Soviet marine assault hovercraft. The band’s sound is heavy and brooding, cut with tooth-tugging guitar tones and keyboards designed to fuzz your head out. This is the sound of psychedelic America in the 21st century—deeply rooted in the San Francisco hard-psych tradition, the guitars reminiscent of Quicksilver Messenger Service’s John Cipollina and Big Brother’s Sam Andrew—yet translated through all the punk and metal that’s happened since 1968. They cite Sonic Youth and Crazy Horse as influences—as well as The Byrds, Pink Floyd and Jerry Garcia. The sounds and tones of classic psychedelic records are, explain guitarists Charlie Sauffley and Jefferson Marshall, and keyboardist Camilla Saufley, fundamental. Ekranoplan’s cover features disembodied rock star heads attacking a futuristic city, while yetis lurk and snakes writhe in the redwood forest. The lyrics are simultaneously apocalyptic and hopeful—the spirit of this time, in this place. “There’s at least one song on there that’s kind of a fantasy about a female Jimi Hendrix figure returning to some desolate, post-apocalyptic, post-Bush Earth, somewhere that’s post-fascist, to liberate the people,” says Charlie Sauffley. “The first song on the first record is all about the animals running things, almost like a Planet of the Apes scenario, after we’ve all gone mad. Or being on the verge of that, know?” www.myspace.com/theassembleheadinsunburstsound

BIG BAND FUNK

Big Sam Williams has backed Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint, appeared on VH1’s Soul Cities and jammed with everyone from Chris Robinson to actor Anthony Anderson. But hanging with celebrities hasn’t softened the trombonist’s big band, Big Sam’s Funky Nation. “I think Peace Love and Understanding is a little harder-edged,” Williams says of his most recent release. “Our first album was more jazz-oriented and the second album has more of a funk vibe. But with this album, we get down to some funky rock in line with the sound we have been playing live.” Williams, who cut his teeth in The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, originally envisioned the Funky Nation as a side project, but eventually made the difficult decision to pursue his band full-time. “Those guys in the Dozen are my role models, but Funky Nation could never do a gig like ACL if I was still on the road 300 days a year.” His gamble paid off: Not only has Big Sam’s Funky Nation scored spots at festivals like Bonnaroo and Voodoo, but they’ve made a splash on the Hollywood circuit. “Anthony Anderson didn’t want to get off the stage [laughter]. We finished at like two in the morning and he was still up there on the piano.” www.bigsamsfunkynation.com

SOUL/PUNK’S FORECAST

The members of L.A.’s The Weather Underground have recorded three EPs and played countless gigs over the past 12 months, but don’t expect them to slow their pace anytime soon. After impressing the crowd at Bonnaroo 2008 with a sound that is equal parts punk and soul, the quartet headed off for yet another round of touring, recording and songwriting. “We’ll be working just as hard if not harder on this thing,” explains vocalist/guitarist Harley Prechtel-Cortez, who started the band a few years ago with his cousin, lead guitarist Shoichi Bagley, bassist Ryan Kirkpatrick and drummer Diego Guerrero, as an homage to the revolutionary spirit. The band’s frenetic live performances continue to evolve with each passing tour. “We’ve gotten tighter but looser, faster but slower. And it just keeps getting more fun. It’s been a real positive evolution,” Prechtel-Cortez says. The unique combination of Bagley’s soaring Lou Reed-worthy fretwork with Prechtel-Cortez’s urgent delivery earned the band high-profile gigs alongside Modest Mouse, The Constantines and Matt Costa, as well as spots at High Sierra and Bonnaroo. theweatherundergroundband.com