The Traverse City Wine & Art Festival is proud to announce a 100% Michigan lineup for our 5th anniversary on Saturday, June 22, 2013. Read about our lineup and click here for ticket information and stay tuned for information about 2013 performance artists.
Entertainment Schedule
ALL TIMES ARE APPROXIMATE
3 PM – Blake Elliott and the Robinson Affair
4:30 PM – Ben Daniels Band
6 PM – Rodriguez
8:30 PM – The Crane Wives
Rodriguez
Our 2013 headliner is Sixto Diaz Rodriguez aka Rodriguez, a Detroit-born singer-songwriter whose story is told in the film Searching for Sugar Man. Despite a lack of critical acclaim in the U.S., Rodriguez unknowingly became a star in South Africa. The film tells the story of how South African fans tracked him down in Detroit. It played at the 2012 Traverse City Film Festival and has won awards across the country and world.
The man is here tonight, the music is incredible.
~David Letterman welcoming Rodriguez to Late Night with David Letterman (view video)
“The reissue of the year is the soundtrack to one of the most compelling music documentaries ever made, about a comeback so improbable it seems like fiction.”
~Rolling Stone magazine on selecting Searching for Sugar Man as reissue of the year.
Other Notable Performances & Features
- Rodriguez on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno (Jan 11, 2013)
- Rodriguez on 60 Minutes (Oct 7, 2012) Be sure to also watch Rodriguez Unplugged as Sixto sings Sugarman for Bob Simon and the 60 Minutes crew.
- Rodriguez in TIME Magazine (Jan 28, 2013) – don’t miss the video interview!
Rodriguez has played all over the nation and world and you can learn much more about him and purchase his CD on his website.
Photo credit: Mike Burnell / www.iso400.com
The Crane Wives
Joining Rodriguez are The Crane Wives, a home grown indie-folk outfit from Grand Rapids, Michigan that defies musical stereotypes. They utilize three-part vocal harmonies, eclectic instrumentation, and a passion for songcraft to create organic music that is both accessible and innovative. Each live show features contagious energy as well as original music that ranges from whisper quiet ballads to danceable grooves.
The Crane Wives’ success in West Michigan has been nothing short of extraordinary, with the rootsy, folk-rock band earning deserved, widespread plaudits for its live shows and honors for its debut album, ranging from Jammie awards from community radio station WYCE-FM to Local Spin of the Year for “Safe Ship, Harbored.”
~John Sinkevics, Localspin
Much more at their website and also on their Facebook.
Ben Daniels Band
Ben Daniels is a natural poet, a young songwriter went to school on Bob Dylan, Robert Johnson, and Jack White, among others. His lyrics speak directly to a younger generation that hears, sees, and thinks about the very things he’s writing. From their opening song to the finale of their set, the Ben Daniels Band cuts through with their originality, musicianship, and a sound that spans Americana, Blues, Jazz, and Rock. The resulting sound is pleasantly familiar, yet unforgettably unique.
The son of actor Jeff Daniels, he has quietly monitored what it takes to live life as an artist. Beyond a passed down talent, the Ben Daniels Band believes in hard work, perseverance, and creatively challenging themselves and their audience.
“As we become societally over-stimulated, anyone with a cell phone and Internet can become a recording artist. The result? We’re being inundated with mediocrity. For even the least-discerning palates, it has become nearly impossible to single out the poet from the din of poorly written hooks and recycled synth beats. For musicphiles from the bored to the disconcerted, The Ben Daniels Band is a welcome gearshift.”
~Real Detroit Weekly
Click for their website and also keep up with them on Facebook.
Blake Elliott and the Robinson Affair
After becoming friends while both on tour with another band, these two unlikely characters decided to fuse their playing styles to create a folked up, funked up, blues-you-away, indie duo. Influenced by everything from jazz of the 1920s to the rock and roll of the 1970s on, their sound is hard to neatly label. Playing both popular and obscure covers, the group’s original material can range from a bluegrass style tune to a bossa nova lounge number, touching on other genres along the way.
Elliott has a style that’s as hard to pin down as liquid mercury — from syncopated rhythms rocketing back-and-forth between her voice and guitar, to bluesy ballads, echoes of the Big Band era, and hip-hop flavored poetry. Just when you think you’ve got her figured out, she shifts musical gears and heads over the hills for a completely different sound.
~Northern Express
Music and more on their website and Facebook page.