Baby Copperhead is the musical
moniker of Brooklyn-based banjo player, guitarist, and composer, Benjamin Brian
Lee. While building on his “otherworldly” folk roots, Lee explores the nexus of
European classical, North African, and Central American traditions through the
prism of folk music and pop culture.
https://youtu.be/lquQ24qN6SI?t=1m18s
Sun Studies (Durham, NC) is a songwriting moniker featuring the wide-ranging
baritone of Reid Johnson. Since the mid-2000s, Johnson has quietly accumulated
a respected catalog with the band Schooner & other projects. Sun Studies is a
more intimate, sparse affair.
“on Sketches, he indulges in his blurriest folk tendencies, crafting
accessible, honeyed desolation and several of the strongest songs of his
winding career.” -David Ford Smith, Independent Weekly (NC)
“spare, saturnine acoustic folk-rock bears along a striking vocal performance,
heavily draped but surprisingly mobile. Johnson’s baritone has the stern
majesty of Scott Walker, but it’s softened by the syrupy ache of Roy
Orbison…” -Brian Howe, Independent Weekly (NC)
“Sun Studies is folk music at its heart, also hearkening to avant-garde pop and
folk of yesteryear, when types like Roy Orbison and Scott Walker captivated
with fiercely distinctive vocal deliveries and a daring creative spirit.”
-Obscure Sound
https://SunStudi.es
https://sunstudies.bandcamp.com
Joshua Carpenter (Asheville, NC) has done stints with Floating Action, The
Nein, and even a handful of gigs here and there with
cult-hero-turned-phenomenon Rodriguez. The Asheville, NC resident currently
plays with Schooner, Better Twin, & Emily Easterly in addition to writing and
performing under his own name. Carpenter has released two
under-the-radar-but-stellar solo albums, Full Flight, in 2011, and Prey Tells,
in 2017.
“Carpenter’s aesthetic lends itself to Big Star’s memorable hooks
with the wry, eviscerating wit of Andy Partridge. Catchy, cerebral, and a bit
pugnacious. …traces back through songsmiths Tobin Sprout and Matthew Sweet to
Robyn Hitchcock and Ray Davies - nostalgia obsessives unafraid to dress their
melancholy in pop trappings.” -John Schacht, Independent Weekly (NC)
https://jcarps.com
https://joshuacarpenter.bandcamp.com