“It was well-received, and we had so much fun performing together that we decided to turn it into something,” Ankley said. “I suggested the name Triana, which means ‘three rivers.’ Since we are three different women with three different styles, it seemed fitting.”
Nearly a year later, Ankley, Chenard, and GlenBrooke are fusing their country, Americana, blues, and rock influences together for Triana’s rich, harmony-driven sound. The trio will share that sound during a September 13 performance at Trinity House Theatre in Livonia.
“We all come from different musical directions, which seem to blend together,” Ankley said.
To learn more, I did an email interview with Ankley about Triana ahead of the show.
Trey Simon works through heartbreak on “Jesus Hold My Baby.” Photo – Noah “Santo” Juuhl
Trey Simon understands the grief that comes from a miscarriage.
The Rochester Hills, Michigan, singer-songwriter and guitarist processes that emotion and mourns that loss as a father on “Jesus Hold My Baby.”
“Ignorantly, you think you’re invincible,” said Simon about his latest Christian Americana single. “Everything with [our first son] Wisdom went so smoothly and perfectly, so we said, ‘Let’s do it again.’ We were expecting the same thing, and then seeing my wife go through that was one of the hardest things I’ve ever walked through.”
Two months into their second pregnancy, Simon and his wife, Lindsey, lost the baby and struggled with how to move forward.
On “Jesus Hold My Baby,” Simon sings, “I don’t know how we can move on / How do we ever try again? / I never wanna relive the heartbreak / Can there be a second chance?”
“When you love somebody and something’s wrong, you want to fix it with everything,” he said. “This is one of those things that I felt like I had to endure with her, and it was something I couldn’t fix. The thing that amazed me was that [roughly] one in [four] pregnancies, a miscarriage happens. I never knew that, I never dreamed of this happening—I never thought it would ever happen to me.”
Fortunately, Simon and Lindsey worked through their heartbreak and were able to conceive again. Their second son, Canaan, was born in July.
“We decided to go for it, and we had a healthy pregnancy,” Simon said. “It’s been beautiful, but it gave me a whole new perspective and a real heart for people who experience child loss and experience miscarriage. I really want to be a champion of those things and a supporter. Hopefully, this song can be a source of healing for many.”
The Americana band embraces the growth and wisdom that comes from personal and professional challenges on It’s Alright.
“A lot of it was the decompression of our days and things that were weighing on us,” said Ashleigh Glass-Cooper, Blockhouse Valley’s vocalist, about the Metro Detroit band’s latest album.
“It also was thoughts we were having and things that were racing through our minds that we were able to capture in those times and hold onto for moments where we could make something better out of them.”
Glass-Cooper traded those thoughts and feelings with husband, musical partner, and mandolinist-guitarist Cody Cooper during their daily commutes home from work.
“It wasn’t that we sat down and said, ‘Let’s write songs about this,’” she said. “We tend to talk about [things] on our commutes, and our brains get a chance to decompress in ways that we don’t always set time apart for otherwise.”
Those conversations laid the groundwork for It’s Alright, which features eight tracks filled with soulful vocals, clever lyrics, and infectious instrumentation.
“We gave them a structure, a context, a musical home that we could potentially share with other people,” Glass-Cooper said. “And we think [the songs] are really relatable because we don’t want to dwell on all of the negativity. We don’t want to give it more power through what we’ve done, but we do want to provide that release.”
To learn more, I spoke with Glass-Cooper and Cooper about the album, its themes, and the creative process behind it.
The Metro Detroit singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist confronts past struggles and rediscovers a sense of purpose on her latest folk album.
“Summer Snows is the story of me growing up,” Domini said. “The first song, ‘Jello,’ starts with how the world feels like Jello, how everything is terrible, and I’m scared. It’s [about] that first year of growing up and what does that look like and me processing that.”
On her second full-length album, Domini processes the growth that comes from tackling mental health challenges and gaining independence.
“There was a lot that happened that was big and heavy, and I couldn’t process it on my own,” she said. “My goal is to write [music] in a way that other people can listen to the songs and see themselves in it. They can see it address their situation, they can gain comfort, and they can gain wisdom through the songs and interpret them in their own way.”
Domini’s poetic lyrics, warm vocals, and emotive instrumentation quickly invite listeners into Summer Snows. The album’s 11 tracks elicit a wealth of emotions while exploring existential and spiritual themes.
“I do think God gave me the love of music, or he just made me in a way that I loved music,” she said. “That is definitely an outlet that I have found.”
I recently spoke with Domini about the inspiration behind her album.
Discipline’s Chris Herin, Mathew Kennedy, Henry Parmenter, and Matthew Parmenter. Photo – Bryant Stuckey
Discipline understands the struggles of navigating the online world.
The prog-rock band weighs the permanency of having a digital footprint with the instant gratification of using new technology on “Breadcrumbs.”
“In my mind, the origin of it was also this notion that when we look at ourselves, we change during our lifetimes,” said Matthew Parmenter, Discipline’s frontman and multi-instrumentalist, about the title track from Breadcrumbs.
“And here we are in this age where so much of what we do is captured, and now, how do we each get to have that luxury that I had as a person growing up, which is to make mistakes and to learn a little from them and to change as we grow. How do we do that when everything we do or utter is recorded forever online?”
Discipline explores that thought as Parmenter sings, “Should we have known / Might we have chosen for ourselves / Now it’s the platform decides / What survives archives our lives.”
“I fear that it leads us to having to become like extreme versions of ourselves, because once you say it, you gotta live up to it,” said Parmenter, who’s based in Metro Detroit. “You can’t let it go. You can’t wake up the next day and say, ‘I probably shouldn’t have said that.’ It’s gone, it’s there. So these were some of the thoughts that generated that particular song.”
In addition to the title track, Parmenter and his Discipline bandmates—guitarist Chris Herin, bassist Mathew Kennedy, and drummer Henry Parmenter—shine on their latest album, Breadcrumbs.
Parmenter’s haunting vocals and philosophical lyrics, along with the band’s spellbinding instrumentation, take listeners on a contemplative journey across five tracks.
To learn more, I spoke with Parmenter about his background, the band, and the album.
The Ypsilanti audio engineer, producer, and drummer started the annual event in 2021 after envisioning Frog Island Park’s amphitheater as the ideal space for an outdoor music festival.
“Yeah, it’s crazy that it’s the fifth year,” said Greenshields, who’s curating and hosting the event on August 9. “The first year was like a test run, and then seeing people enjoy the fest so much the next couple years, I had to keep it going.”
Since then, he’s featured an eclectic group of local artists performing at Fun Fest, including Travis Auckerman, Stormy Chromer, Ki5, The Macpodz, Thornetta Davis, and others.
“It’s almost like the festival is its own organism at this point,” said Greenshields, also the owner and operator of Fundamental Sound Co., an Ypsilanti-based recording studio.
“The festival has grown in many ways over the years by having different activities for kids [and] all sorts of different vendors, bands, and artists. Just the word getting around about the festival has really evolved over the last few years [as well].”
Now, he’s gearing up for the fifth edition of Fun Fest, which includes returning acts Al Bettis, Dani Darling, Ma Baker, and Violet Sol. It also features the new additions of Marcus Elliot, Peter Madcat Ruth’s C.A.R.Ma Quartet, and Jacuzzi Beach to the festival’s lineup.
“I want to keep the lineup different every year, but wanted to bring back some of the staples from the first couple Fun Fests,” he said. “I like how Marcus represents Detroit and Madcat represents Ann Arbor, and we are bringing them together in the middle in Ypsi.”
I recently did an email interview with Greenshields ahead of the festival.
Arc1c is future-oriented on “Blip in Time.” Photo – Brandon Russell
William Carey is ready to leave the past behind.
The Detroit producer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist feels relieved after recovering from a recent bout of Crohn’s disease.
“When you’re finally out of it, it feels so incredibly freeing, and that’s where this EP came from,” said Carey, who performs and records as Arct1c—pronounced Arctic—about Blip in Time.
“It feels freeing to create and freeing to write, knowing that I’m on the other side of this and that everything’s gonna be good. I’m gonna be good for a while, and it felt good to write like that.”
On Blip in Time, Carey provides a cathartic and spiritual electronic journey about experiencing a temporary setback and acquiring newfound strength for the future.
“Because a year ago, I was in a hospital, and I had to get a blood transfusion,” he said. “I finally got past that little final portion, and I’m not gonna let those last couple of years hold me back from anything now.”
The EP’s five electronic instrumentals sonically reflect Carey’s shifting mindset during his health struggle. While going through the tracks, he quickly trades disappointment and self-doubt for hope and resilience.
“All that is just a blip in time,” he said. “It’s in the past, and now I have to transfer all of my energy towards the present and the future.”
To learn more, I spoke with Carey about his background and latest release.
Shannon Lee, Andrew Pfeiffer, Hillary Finchum-Sung, Jeff Brach, Christopher Georges, David Roof, and former bassist Jamie Sass. Not pictured: current bassist Kevin Howard. Courtesy photo.
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared on the Ann Arbor District Library’s Pulpblog.
The Ann Arbor-Metro Detroit band provides a cathartic outlet for processing feelings—ranging from hope to heartbreak to euphoria—on its latest album.
“A lot of the music that I write, it all comes from a very emotional place,” said Jeff “J. Michael” Brach, frontman for the Americana-jam rock band, about Where We Belong.
“When I’m at my peak creatively and writing a lot of music, which I’m actually doing more of right now, it’s when I’m going through difficult things.”
Brach examines a spectrum of emotions while rediscovering his purpose—both personally and vicariously—across eight tracks.
“Universally, the music that I love, you can identify with it, even if you’re interpreting it differently,” he said. “We all come from our perspectives, but you can universally tap into certain things that are being said.”
Brach’s relatable songwriting comes to life alongside the spirited instrumentation of The Heavy Burden, which includes lead guitarist Andrew Pfeiffer, drummer Christopher Georges, vocalist Shannon Lee, keyboardist David Roof, vocalist-violinist Hillary Finchum-Sung, and bassist Kevin Howard.
“Once I started listening and focusing on the lyrics, I [don’t] think of us as the heavy burden, but that’s the funny joke part of it,” Georges said.
“A lot of the songs have heavy, emotional tones sometimes, even though they’re light in their presentation and fun and groovy. There’s also this behind-the-scenes bit of toil and heartbreak, and that story-work in there. It’s delivered nicely and sweetly almost to the ear.”
I remember coming home from elementary school and watching reruns of the show, which featured several episodes of Suzi Quatro playing a musician named Leather Tuscadero.
There was something cool about Leather and the way she carried herself. I liked the idea of a woman fronting her own band, and in this case, it was Leather and the Suedes.
By the time I was nine, I started fronting my own imaginary band called Lori and The Red Hearts. It was inspired by women rockers like Suzi Quatro and Joan Jett.
While Lori and The Red Hearts never came to fruition, I learned later on that Quatro grew up in Detroit and is proud to be from there.
“It’s just a special city. You’ve got your Black and white completely coming together. Musically, it’s joined somehow. You’ve got your energy level. You’ve got your edge. You’ve got this almost desperation. It’s one of the best music cities, if not the best music city, in the world,” said Quatro in an interview with author-music journalist Katherine Yeske Taylor for the book, She’s a Badass: Women in Rock Shaping Feminism.
While she appreciates her hometown, Quatro also said she’s always been a square peg in a round hole and has forged her own musical path in life.
“From the time I started to play bass in a band, I was aware that I didn’t have my own niche in which to fit. It did not exist, so I created my own,” she said.
Quatro is one of 20 women rockers featured in Yeske Taylor’s book, which takes an in-depth look at the talent, determination, and humor they needed to succeed in their music careers. She’s a Badass also profiles Heart’s Ann Wilson, X’s Exene Cervenka, The Go-Go’s Gina Shock, Suzanne Vega, L7’s Donita Sparks, Indigo Girls’ Amy Ray, Paula Cole, and more.
“As I interviewed the women for this book, many of them proudly proclaimed themselves to be feminists—but several others had various reasons to reject that label. In either case, the way these artists have led their lives has turned them into role models (whether they actually intended to be or not), thereby promoting gender equality in the music business—and, arguably, in society overall,” writes Yeske Taylor in the book’s introduction.
To learn more, I spoke to Yeske Taylor about her background, music journalism career, and latest book.
The folk singer-songwriter, historian, and storyteller is driven by curiosity and a desire to understand, express, and connect with listeners.
“I want to know something,” said Juno, who lives in Metro Detroit. “I want to say something; I want to feel something. And I want the listener to feel something, too.”
Whether he’s writing and singing about women working in cigar factories or calling for the release of a wrongly imprisoned activist, Juno’s songs hit an emotional and thoughtful mark.
“I’m a topical folk singer with songs often inspired by front-page headlines, historical events, museums, or personal stories shared by everyday people,” he said.
“My music, whether personal or historical, aims to honor the power of storytelling and connect people to both the past and present.”
His engaging stories and songs are best heard in intimate settings, like coffeehouses, taverns, small theaters, and house concerts.
“House concerts are a favorite setting at this stage of my career,” said Juno, who hails from Flint and has been writing and performing since the early ‘80s.
“Intimate and conversational spaces allow me to set up songs, tell their stories, and create memorable, meaningful events with listeners up close.”
I recently spoke with Juno about select songs from his catalog and his upcoming plans.
The Stratton Setlist 