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Eastern Front Songwriter Grant Winner Kat Wallace to Release Debut Album "Grand Design"

"Grand Design" marks an exciting new chapter for Wallace, showcasing her Americana influences from legendary songwriters like Gillian Welch and John Prine, as well as centuries-old Celtic and English balladry. Recorded in August 2023 in Brooklyn with guitarist Steven Manwaring and engineered by bassist Andrew Ryan, who also co-produced the record alongside Wallace, the album is a triumph of the folk music style. "Grand Design" was wrapped up at Zachariah Hickman’s Greedy Beast Studios in April 2024 with Kate Knudsvig (violin), Jacqui Armbruster (viola), and Karl Henry (cello). It’s mixed by Don Mitchell of Darlingside and mastered by Andrew Ryan. “Belfast Song” and “Time to Time” are finished with a rousing group chorus of friendly voices, recorded at a house show in Roxbury, MA.

The nine tracks on "Grand Design" showcase Wallace’s exceptional ability to compose contemplative yet clever lyrics, with a delicate balance of existential dread and lighthearted humor. Her distinctive crystalline voice, unique tenor guitar playing and rowdy fiddle lines match the strength of her songwriting. “Matter of Time” and “Everytime” include string quartet arrangements, an art she honed as a co-founder of the Askia Quartet during her graduate studies at the New England Conservatory.

Listen to the first two singles “fig tree” and “matter o’ time out now.

 

Rachel Sumner and Traveling Light LP (2022)

With songs as sweet and biting as the nectar and venom in her voice, Rachel Sumner has been captivating audiences throughout the northeast with her exciting new band Traveling Light. While their instrumentation and textures show roots deep in bluegrass and traditional folk music, Sumner's lyric-forward writing and penchant for snaking chord progressions demand something beyond folk conventions, highlighting the acrobatic range of her brilliant bandmates Kat Wallace (fiddle/harmonies) and Mike Siegel (upright bass).

"A bullish band packed with skills was soon ready to go... [with] a smooth and stylish self-titled debut album”

— AMERICANA HIGHWAYS

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Old Habits LP (2021)

With fiddle and a variety of mandolin-family instruments Wallace and Sasso orbit around traditional folk, original songwriting, and the ever-evolving Americana movement.

Evolving from the raw and transparent fiddle/mandolin duo sound of our first album, Stuff of Stars, this album features a full band sound with bass, drums, some pedal steel, and a cast of very special guests. Released in October of 2021, these original songs explore the cyclical nature of life, love, and loss, taking much inspiration from the isolation and loss of the pandemic and reaching to find beauty in the blemishes of the human experience.

Available Everywhere

 
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Stuff of Stars LP (2019)

In August 2019, Kat Wallace and David Sasso released their debut album, Stuff of Stars, which draws upon Kat and David's classical backgrounds to create inventive arrangements that both capture and extend the aesthetic of traditional song and tune. This album showcases their virtuosity and their knowledge of harmony and form, presenting seven originals and three covers that are at once deeply familiar and assuredly innovative. The album features Kat on vocals and fiddle and David on vocals and a variety of mandolin family instruments, including mandolin, octave mandolin, and mandocello. The album was recorded, mixed, and mastered by Dan Cardinal at Dimension Sound Studios in Boston and produced by acclaimed multi-genre cellist Mike Block, who makes an appearance on two tracks. Stuff of Stars captures the wonder, beauty, and grace of the natural world, the passage of time, and the human experience.s.

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Art by Ames Able

Art by Ames Able

Wrong EP (2019)

Moss covered stepping stones, heathered fields and the Harvest Moon are all evoked when River Run steps on stage. Their sound, rooted in melancholic storytelling, freely wanders between folk, Americana, and even Celtic traditions. River Run writes songs that reveal love, loss, and time as naked truths, and relies on earthy vocals and intuitive strings to invite the audience to muse on these themes with them.


“A family band in the best sense of the word” — New Haven Independent, River Run is Sam (vocals), Kat (fiddle, vocals) and Bill (guitar) Wallace. The trio grew up crafting haunting versions of old school rock and folk songs in the living room, and began writing songs together as an extension of conversations they were having at the dinner table.  Recently, the band has been selected to appear in the 2019 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival Emerging Artist Showcase, the Guilford Performing Arts Festival and released their debut music video, “ Desert Queen”.  Working in Riverway Studios in CT and Dimension Sound Studios in Boston, River Run released their debut EP, Wrong, in October 2019.

Available Everywhere