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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 4, 2019)
26 Wednesday, December 4, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon FOLK FESTIVAL: Concerts feature award-winning music Continued from page 3 their transcendent live shows, while mining new energetic material from the place where folk music, funk and soul meet. The band9s newest album, <Is It You, Is It Me= 4 com- ing January 31 via their own Medium Expectations label and Nashville9s Thirty Tigers 4 is something different entirely and represents the lat- est stage in a band that never stops evolving and refuses to stand still. The result is a sonic revelation and a reck- oning. After celebrating more than a decade of sonic adven- turing, playing thousands of shows together in 10 coun- tries and counting, and col- lecting a devoted and growing fan base coast to coast, the six core members 4 founder Z. Lupetin, Liz Beebe, Josh Heffernan, Matt Rubin, Ulf Bjorlin and Connor Vance 4 knew they had to create something bigger. With a big brass-and- strings band building the sets around them, Is It You, Is It Me isn9t afraid to explore the personal and political tension that the group may have shied away from facing before. The group9s signature intertwined vocal leads star on the open- ing track, <Dreaming,= which tackles the deep vulnerability of revealing your secrets and your soul every night in front of an audience. But where the band really sets on a new course is on lushly cinematic, orchestrated set pieces like <Mirror,= <Runaway= and, most notably, the current fan favorite and live show- stopper <Sonic Boom,= about the struggle to reveal who you really are in the hidden, rose-colored world of social media. On Thursday, April 9, stel- lar mandolin player Sierra Hull will perform with a full band, demonstrating her wide-ranging and excep- tional musical talent as a writer, singer and performer. Hull9s stellar career started early. She had her Grand Ole Opry debut at age 10 and was called back to the famed stage a year later to perform with her hero and mentor, Alison Krauss. Sierra played Carnegie Hall at 12; at 13 she signed with Rounder Records and issued her debut, <Secrets,= garnering the first of many nominations for the IBMA9s Mandolin Player of the Year designation. She played the Kennedy Center at 16 and the next year became the first blue- grass musician to receive a Presidential Scholarship to the Berklee College of Music. As a 20-year-old, Hull played the White House and in 2010, captured her first IBMA award for Recorded Event of the Year. All the while, she was shedding the prodigy tag, turning virtuoso, and recording her second album, <Daybreak,= with seven of her own original compositions. By 2016, Hull had reached a more mature place in her life and in her art. She tapped legendary bluegrass musi- cian Béla Fleck to produce her third album, <Weighted Mind.= A departure from her opening pair of records that blended progressive elements with traditional structure, Hull let go of whatever preconcep- tions existed 4 both hers and those of her audience 4 and birthed a Grammy-nominated masterpiece. Enlisting bassist Ethan Jodziewicz (and Fleck on two cuts), and harness- ing vocal contributions from Krauss, Abigail Washburn, and Rhiannon Giddens, Hull trusted her foundation of influences to support this artistic leap. Months later she was taking home the IBMA Mandolin Player of the Year award. After a near-decade of consecutive nominations, Hull broke that last glass ceiling, becoming the first woman to win the prestigious title, then she took home a pair to join it, winning again in 2017 and 2018. Sierra Hull has maintained a rigorous touring schedule. Even when off the road, she is frequently guesting with friends and legends, joining such icons as the Indigo Girls, Garth Brooks, and Gillian Welch, and performing at the Country Music Awards with Ricky Skaggs, Brad Paisley, and Marty Stuart. She says she9s ready now for something new. Currently in the midst of work for the follow-up to <Weighted Mind,= her next album will consist of all original songs. Beyond that, there are compelling ideas she won9t divulge for col- laborations and, perhaps, an all-instrumental record. <I love playing music. It9s all I ever wanted to do. I don9t see it, necessarily, as a bad thing that I9m slow on making albums. I want my albums to be something I can be proud of,= said Hull. For more information on the 2020 Sisters Folk Festival Winter Concert Series visit www.sistersfolkfestival.org/ winterconcertseries. Tickets can be purchased online in advance or at the door. SFF Winter Concert Series season passes are $55 for adults or $40 for youth 18 and under. Tickets are also available for individual shows. All shows are at the Sisters High School auditorium and start at 7 p.m. The Nugget Newspaper Crossword By Jacqueline E. Mathews, Tribune News Service — Last Week’s Puzzle Solved — This Week’s Crossword Sponsors WELL PUMP SERVICE Pump & Electrical Contractor PRESSURE TANKS • CONSTANT-PRESSURE SYSTEMS FREQUENCY DRIVES • MOTOR CONTROLS • PUMPS A Division of 24-HOUR EMERGENCY SERVICE Sisters Owned CCB#178543 Zach 541-420-8170 Now open 7 days a week! Book a Sunday Facial, receive FREE 30-minute LED p plus brow waxing Holiday Essentials Skincare s & gift certifi cate lable ai av s ck gift pa Karen Kare Ka renn Keady re Kead Ke adyy Esthetician/Owner ad Esth Es thet th etic et icia ic ian/ ia n/Ow n/ Owne Ow nerr 54 ne 541-480-1412 541- 1 48 | 492 E. Main Ave. SistersEssentials.com