Windborne (band)
Windborne | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Brattleboro, VT USA |
| Genres |
|
| Years active | 2013–present |
| Website | windbornesingers |
| Members | Lauren Breunig Jeremy Carter-Gordon Lynn Rowan Will Rowan |
Windborne is an American vocal harmony group from New England consisting of Lauren Breunig, Jeremy Carter-Gordon, Lynn Rowan, and Will Rowan. The group specializes in traditional folk music and polyphonic singing and is known for their use of historical protest songs to speak about the present day. They are one of only two artist-led full-time vocal groups, the other being Cantus (vocal ensemble).
The group has been compared to The Watersons, and has recorded and shared the stage with artists such as John McCutcheon, Martin Carthy, The Longest Johns, Séamus Egan, Mairi Campbell, and Waldemar Bastos.[1][2]
Career
The group originally comprised Lauren Breunig, Lynn Rowan, and Will Rowan, who started singing together in their late teens after meeting through Village Harmony Camp.[3] Their first concert was held at a tea shop in Brattleboro, Vermont.[3] In 2013 they expanded to include Jeremy Carter-Gordon, whom they had met through a collaborative choral project called Renewal, as the bass for the group.[4] All the members grew up in families where folk song was common, and Lauren Breunig is the daughter of Fred Breunig of New England's Nowell Sing We Clear.[5][3][6]
In 2014, Windborne was selected as one of ten groups by the U.S. Department of State's American Music Abroad program to serve as cultural ambassadors, touring Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Angola.[7][8] During these tours, they performed at national theaters and collaborated with traditional musicians.[9]
In 2017, the group recorded a short video outside Trump Tower in NYC, which went viral, leading to an outpouring of support for what was to be their breakthrough album, Song on the Times: A Songbook and Album of Social Struggle. The album and book were backed by over 2500 fans, and launched the group into full time touring later that year.[10]
In 2024, their album and book To Warm the Winter Hearth became the top music project on Backerkit, and the fifth most-backed album on any crowdfunding platform, raising over $400,000 from 8000 backers.[11]
Musical style
Windborne specializes in close harmony singing and performs music from diverse cultural traditions. In addition to songs in English, their repertoire includes traditional songs from Corsica, Quebec, Basque Country, Lithuania, and in the Occitan language. The group has developed their vocal style through study with masters of traditional singing styles.[3]
Recordings
Albums:
The band has released 5 albums, Midwinter Meeting – Live (2013), Lay Around That Shack (2015), Song on the Times (2017), Of Hard Times & Harmony (2022), To Warm the Winter Hearth (2024).
Starting with Song on the Times, the albums have been released as books, containing art, lyrics, history, and stories.[12][13][14][15]
Midwinter Meeting – Live was recorded during Windborne’s first quartet tour in 2013, and features the roots of group's study with singing masters from Corsica, Bulgaria, Georgia, Quebec, as well as American roots music
Lay Around That Shack was born out of their touring as musical ambassadors for the US and features traditional American and English folk song, which Fatea Magazine called "A gleefully winding path through American music… born of genuine and deep-seated appreciation of the tradition in all its aspects."[16]
Song on the Times and Of Hard Times & Harmony both present songs from historical and current social movements, updated for today.
To Warm the Winter Hearth is “a collection of welcoming wassails, songs of solstice and music for midwinter, performed in English, Occitan and Lithuanian." The group took inspiration from the Watersons as well as Vermont's Nowell Sing We Clear.[17][1]
Awards and Honors
Official WOMEX Showcase Artists 2022.[18]
Official Folk Alliance International Showcase 2020-2022
Official Arts Midwest Showcase Artists 2020
Official Western Arts Alliance Showcase Artists 2020
Official Folk Alliance Region Midwest Artist 2019[19]
Official Northeast Regional Folk Alliance 2018
1st Place Young Tradition Vermont Competition[20]
Recognition
Their 2024 album "To Warm the Winter Hearth" became the highest-funded folk album in crowdfunding history and the fifth-highest funded album across all genres. The group has gained significant recognition for their technical prowess and authentic interpretation of various vocal traditions. Windborne has toured extensively within the US, UK, and Canada, and has performed in Angola, Australia, Belgium, Finland, France, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, and Turkmenistan.
Discography
| Title | Details |
|---|---|
| Midwinter Meeting |
|
| Lay Around that Shack |
|
| Song on the Times:
A Songbook & Album of Social Struggle |
|
| Of Hard Times & Harmony |
|
| To Warm the Winter Hearth |
|
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Windborne – To Warm The Winter Hearth (Album Review)". KLOF Mag. 2024-12-02. Retrieved 2024-12-12.
- ↑ Brian O'Donovan (2019-12-21). Christmas Celtic Sojourn: Oh Holy Night, Mairi Campbell. Retrieved 2024-12-12 – via YouTube.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "Conversation with Windborne". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2024-12-12.
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs named:1 - ↑ "Windborne - To Warm The Winter Hearth". jazzquad.ru. Retrieved 2024-12-12.
- ↑ "Conversation with Windborne: Vocal Quartet from New England". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2024-12-12.
- ↑ Staff, HOWARD WEISS-TISMAN / Reformer (2014-02-28). "Universal language of song". Brattleboro Reformer. Retrieved 2024-12-12.
- ↑ "Windborne | American Music Abroad". Retrieved 2024-12-12.
- ↑ Winick, Stephen (2024-10-18). "Windborne's Old Songs and Bold Harmonies: Homegrown Plus | Folklife Today". The Library of Congress. Retrieved 2024-12-12.
- ↑ Reformer, Special to the (2018-09-26). "Windborne picking up the torch of protest music". Brattleboro Reformer. Retrieved 2024-12-12.
- ↑ "A New England folk quartet reimagines centuries-old Christmas carols". www.wbur.org. 2024-12-13. Retrieved 2024-12-14.
- ↑ "FATEA - Home". www.fatea-records.co.uk. Retrieved 2024-12-12.
- ↑ "WINDBORNE – Of Hard Times & Harmony (Wand'ring Feet Records WFR 005)". Folking.com. 2022-07-17. Retrieved 2024-12-12.
- ↑ Davies, Mike. "Windborne: Of Hard Times & Harmony". Fatea.
- ↑ "Of Hard Times and Harmony". Songlines. Retrieved 2024-12-12.
- ↑ "FATEA - Reviews". www.fatea-records.co.uk. Retrieved 2024-12-12.
- ↑ "Classical CDs: Christmas 2024". theartsdesk.com. 2024-12-07. Retrieved 2024-12-12.
- ↑ "Windborne - USA - WOMEX". www.womex.com. Retrieved 2024-12-12.
- ↑ "Official Showcase Artists Announced! | FARM". Retrieved 2024-12-12.
- ↑ "Windborne Trio sings Saturday". Brattleboro Reformer. 2010-12-01. Retrieved 2024-12-12.
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