Great American Taxi
Drew Emmitt
Head for the Hills
And Oakhurst
A benefit for The DiscoverHope Fund
Friday, April 11 2008
The Boulder Theater
Boulder, CO
Come enjoy the music and contribute to the global effort to end poverty for some of the 3 billion people who live on less than $2 a day and are trapped in poverty so they cannot adequately feed, clothe, or shelter themselves or their families. DiscoverHope Fund (DHF) is a 501(c)3 public benefit nonprofit seeking to lift women out of poverty by encouraging financial and spiritual abundance through microcredit and sustainable support systems. DHF provides access to microcredit and education to help to lift beneficiaries out of poverty. Proceeds from a music based raffle will go toward our work to create a new consciousness of prosperity that women can pass onto their children, families, communities, society, and this world. The raffle will include tickets to several local concerts, gift certificates and prizes to numerous local businesses, festival tickets, artwork and much more.
Your head would spin adding up all the miles the members of Great American Taxi have traveled individually and in just over two years together they’ve added a whole lot more to their travelogues. From their home in the high country of Colorado to the shores of the Pacific and back again through the grain belt of the Midwest heading further east to the Atlantic Ocean, Taxi has ridden the highways and biways spinning yarns and delivering high octane music to all who show up at their live shows and consume their 21st century Americana sound. From the bars, clubs and theaters to the main stage of Wakarusa to late night sets at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, up north to the 10,000 Lakes Festival via Summer Camp, and out west to the High Sierra Music Fest, the band has carved out their own territory in a very short time. Audiences are instantly immersed in their their folk and country sensibilities while they are fed large doses of improvisation and rock and roll. Touring relentlessly in 2007 supporting their debut CD release “Streets of Gold,” and with over 200 plus shows behind them in their short time together, Great American Taxi has built a hefty following the old fashioned way. With front-man Vince Herman at the wheel people will recognize threads of the Leftover Salmon fabric all the while being driven by original songwriting and musicianship from guitarist/vocalist Jefferson Hamer and keyboardist/vocalist Chad Staehly. The rhythm section and axles of the ride are supplied by well-seasoned veterans Jake Coffin on drums/vocals and Edwin Hurwitz on bass guitar. Jake spent years on the road with Dan Bern and Edwin clocked many miles with 90’s jambands Shockra and Skin. Great American Taxi traffics their collective past helping create their new Americana without borders brand of music.
Drew Emmitt, the dynamic lead singer and mandolin player with the popular jamband Leftover Salmon, is a musical renaissance man. If it has strings, Emmitt can probably play it. He performs and records on mandolin, fiddle, banjo, and acoustic and electric guitars; as well as harmonica and flute. Emmitt’s signature, however, is his energetic, original approach to mandolin, a style that reflects his pantheon of musical heroes. Emmitt takes the contemporary approach to bluegrass tradition one step further, making the music feel effortless even as he adds new dimensions.
After beginning his musical career in Nashville, Emmitt moved to Boulder, Colorado and founded progressive bluegrass ensemble, The Left Hand String Band in 1984. Six years later, Vince Herman’s serendipitous scramble for musicians to fill in a gig with his SalmonHeads yielded a glorious amalgam: Leftover Salmon. As the band proved its staying power, Emmitt pioneered techniques for taking the mandolin into new territory by using combinations of overdrive, slides and foot pedals to emulate the sound of steel drums and electric slide guitar. His technical innovations, however, have never overshadowed his pure voice and heartfelt lyrics.
Fort Collins, Colorado’s own bluegrass young guns Head for the Hills have had a successful year in 2007. The quartet was the named winners of Yonder Mt. String Band’s 2007 Northwest String Summit Band Completion held at Horning’s Hideout in North Plains, OR in August of ‘07. In addition they performed in the 2007 Telluride Bluegrass Band Competition and are fresh off the completion of their debut album, Robber’s Roost, produced by Grammy Award Winning musician/producer Sally Van Meter (Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia, Yonder Mountain String Band), Head for the Hills is primed and ready to bring their dynamic sound to the ears of listeners far and wide.
Their sundry blend of ancestral bluegrass, moving harmonies, & original composition, creates a sound nothing short of exceptional. In the live setting, Head for the Hills can venture into a myriad of musical stylings that posses an eclectic and progressive perspective on acoustic roots music. Through the course of their young and career, Head for the Hills has performed and shared the stage with the likes of: David Grisman, Sam Bush, Nickel Creek, The Infamous Stringdusters, Pete Wernick (Hot Rize), Drew Emmitt (Leftover Salmon) and Billy Nershi (String Cheese Incident), Hot Buttered Rum, Tony Furtado, and Railroad Earth, among many others.
x
