Moose Gronholm's Profile

These Casual Participant fellas are comprised of Tommy Cappel (guitar, bass, keys, vocals), Michael Rendell Hensley (vocals, and artwork), Joe Mitchell (vocals, cello), Travis Talbert (pedal steel, guitar), Mark Becknell (drums), Dusty Bryant (piano). A supergroup of local troubadours who have all been in or are in bands together, recorded with each other, and have been doing this music thing for a good long while to sum it all up.

From a living room couch amidst a pandemic six songs filled my ear canals and traveled through my bones and soul and left me wanting more. J. Warrick Ford is one half of Warrick and Lowell and is also a third of Chelsea Ford & the Trouble. Through a year of isolation, sheltering in place, and quarantining, he recorded this album.

As 2020 draws close to its end for what has been for a lot of folks a trying year, to put it mildly, there are some things about it that were great. And, in the music and arts department we were gifted with some great albums.

Early on these songs that ended up on Love is King were sort of like misshapen shapes, but as the pandemic has gone on, and the songs were getting shaped into what we have on the album I was given a mild peek behind the curtain.

 The soundtrack of The Mountain Minor is just as much a part of the film as the film itself. It’s hard to imagine what the film would be like without these songs.

Somewhere in the backwoods of Appalachian Ohio lives an unorthodox – yet – affable sapient creature knit together of volatile melodies, visceral power – pop energy, and scathing intellectual prowess – and its name is Cutler Station.

During all this pandemic fog something peeked itself through the clouds and let a ray of light in. Not only did Arlo McKinley drop two singles for his new record but he also was signed to John Prine’s “Oh Boy Records.” The album Die Midwestern will be dropping soon. I’m here to talk about the two singles that were dropped, “Die Midwestern” and “Walking Shoes.”

The one thing that really stands out is Charlie’s voice, the guy can really sing. He has a strong voice and that carries throughout the EP.

Through the gravel in Joe’s voice, and the lonesome sound of fiddle and pedal steel there’s also an Ohio front porch. On a lazy Sunday strumming some chords, a coffee, and maybe a wind chime clanking.

While we have all been dealing with our quarantine however we have been dealing with it. Some of us have had to still work, and some are not and are at home trying to figure out if that table really needs to be cleaned again, I mean it’s been an hour? Music has been there for us. To keep us sane amidst a pandemic the likes of which we have never seen before.

Few artists have been more captivating, for me, than M. Ward. A bunch of years ago I saw him on a VHS tape that had his Austin City Limits guest appearance on it. He played on a few songs with Bright Eyes / Conor Oberst. I had never heard anything like that before and being under the influence of some things I made sure to make a mental note of this guy’s name: M. Ward.