Tag: Cleveland

Midwest Americana – Blockhouse Valley Combines Regional Folk and Bluegrass with Rust Belt Grit on Self-Titled Debut EP

Blockhouse Valley 1
Blockhouse Valley’s Ashleigh Glass, Jon Howard, Cody Cooper and Danny Steinkopf feature wistful stories about heartbreak, home and hope on their self-titled debut EP. Photo courtesy of Blockhouse Valley

With musical roots throughout the Midwest, Blockhouse Valley deeply cultivates a flourishing Americana landscape in southeast Michigan.

The metro Detroit quartet of Ashleigh Glass (vocals), Cody Cooper (mandolin, guitar), Jon Howard (guitar) and Danny Steinkopf (upright bass) combines robust elements of Appalachian folk and Tennessee bluegrass with gritty Rust Belt sentiments on their self-titled debut EP.

“Growing up, my prolific and prodigious grandparents helped shape my vision for my musical endeavors. I was exposed to artists like Dolly Parton, Marty Stuart and Chet Atkins, but my personal preferences skewed more toward rock, blues and indie music,” said Cooper, who hails from Sunbury, Ohio, and whose grandparents reside in northeast Tennessee’s Blockhouse Valley.

“When Ashleigh, a West Virginia native, and I started writing music together, we found a lot of shared experiences tied to the trials of living in the Rust Belt. We both lamented witnessing the impact of lost industry and economy on our parents’ and grandparents’ generations and were concerned about how it was shaping our peers and our perspectives in the Midwest.”

In response, Cooper and Glass penned six thoughtful tracks for the EP that reconcile past struggles and beckon future growth. Wistful stories about heartbreak, home and hope soar alongside rich harmonies and fervent acoustic instrumentation.

“The tie to Blockhouse Valley harkens to the short-lived promise of prosperity, the long-term costs lurking beneath the surface, and the ever-enduring splinter of hope that we might learn to do better as we learn from all we’ve seen,” Glass said.

“From this viewpoint, our music has been influenced by a wide range of artists, most notably Chris Thile and his bands Punch Brothers and Nickel Creek. They encapsulate so many elements that we relish, including bluegrass instrumentation that blends nods to their predecessors with truly virtuosic musicianship.”

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Identity Crisis – Gaucho Major Uncovers Past Selves on New ‘Blue Ribbon’ Single

Blue Ribbon Single LARGE
Gaucho Major’s “Blue Ribbon” challenges people to reveal their true identities.

Gaucho Major keenly uncovers the duplicitous side of human nature.

The Los Angeles pop-rock duo of Max Espinosa (vocals, guitar) and Mike Pappas (songwriting, production) shines a jazzy, truthful light on “Blue Ribbon,” an eye-opening, witty new single that instantly challenges people to reveal their true identities.

“It’s basically a song about the American lie in privilege. There’s a lot that goes into that, and there’s a lyric in there, ‘Be happy that you’ve left where you’ve come from.’ While growing up in LA, I saw people come here from all walks of life,” said Espinosa.

“I noticed a difference with someone coming from Detroit, St. Louis or Cleveland; they just wanna erase where they came from. They’re happy to shed it. But when I go to New York, people are like, ‘I’m from Pittsburgh, or I’m from Ann Arbor,’ and they’re just proud about it. They’re past lives aren’t thrown away.”

Throughout “Blue Ribbon,” Gaucho Major elegantly retrieves those discarded past selves as thoughtful piano, soulful sax, mystical electric guitars, sauntering bass and cozy drums unearth the importance of living authentically.

Espinosa playfully sings, “Be happy to leave where you came from/There’s everything here under the sun/The crowd back there/They ain’t got much to go on/Careful where you step, son/We just did the lawn/It’s good to be on the board/Even if you’re a pawn.”

“The verses are very much like a parody and a caricature’s story. When I get to the chorus, I actually sing and do my normal voice. It’s a wink, a smile and a nod to what people expect in life, especially with the rise in social media, and people filtering out 90 percent of their real life to give you a 10 percent glimpse of the good times,” Espinosa said.

Espinosa and Pappas started delving into “Blue Ribbon’s” refreshing theme of uncovering inauthentic selves last summer. The duo received a songwriting prompt for the track from the KDC Guild’s Kristopher Malone, who will include “Blue Ribbon” on his upcoming multimedia concept album, Welcome to the Cise Pavilion.

“We basically brainstormed this certain segment of the story, and it was this long scene of what an ideal life would look like. It’s the notion of a trophy family and how you’re supposed to live in America, and I thought it was perfect for me to write about it. That was enough for me to get going on creating the soundscape and everything for the song,” said Espinosa, who’s influenced by Steely Dan.

To solidify the track’s first-rate, jazz-inspired sound, Gaucho Major invited a talented roster of musicians, including Kevin Hannah (drums), Kateri Lirio (piano) and Kapil Raman (sax), to collaborate remotely for “Blue Ribbon” over a six-month period.

“We started in July with the skeleton build to get the bones of the track, and that’s just the thematic elements of the song and not even the lyrics or anything. When it came to recording the parts, we did a rough demo in August to send out to our drummer,” Espinosa said.

“We picked Kevin because he’s got amazing gospel chops; he’s got groove. When we got the drums back, we decided to build everything on top of it. We ended up getting those back in late September and recorded everything else in October. And then we sent it off to get mixed in November.”

Continue reading “Identity Crisis – Gaucho Major Uncovers Past Selves on New ‘Blue Ribbon’ Single” →