ivy room presentsSUNDAY APRIL 21ST - EARTH DAY—ANTHONY ARYAJESSE BREWSTERPAUL SOUNDER—Doors 6pm / Show 7pm$15 Advance / $17 Door—IVY ROOM860 San Pablo Ave, Albany, CA • 21+(rsvp on facebook)ANTHONY ARYA(website / bandcamp / facebook / instagram)—Anthony Arya is an Americana rock performing and recording artist and nationally award-winning songwriter from the San Francisco Bay Area. In Fall 2018 at age 15, Anthony was a contestant on Season 15 of NBC’s The Voice. Shortly after, he released his debut album Going To California. With rocking crowd favorites such as “Slow Train” and “Blues By Midnight”, Anthony quickly became one of the most popular artists in music-rich Santa Cruz, California. The Anthony Arya Band has performed at well known events in the Monterey Bay Area including the Redwood Mountain Faire, the Capitola Art and Wine Festival, and the West End Celebration. His music is frequently played on the iconic roots radio station KPIG.His second album The Road, released in Spring 2020, encompasses the Beat-Dylan American traditions of love, socio-political awareness, and the open road. Fans love the upbeat rock songs“The Road” and “Moonlight” as well as the melodic folksy lyrics of “California Air” and “Sarah”. Arya's first official music video for "California Air" showing iconic shots from his hometown of Santa Cruz won a semi-finalist award in the International Songwriting Competition. In June 2020 Anthony Arya received the prestigious award of Presidential Scholar in the Arts (category singer/songwriter) awarded by the US Department of Education.In 2021, Anthony released Listen to the Voice of Anthony Arya, a tribute to his Voice journey with covers of the songs he performed in auditions and on the show. Since The Voice, Arya has performed hundreds of shows around the Bay Area and people say you're likely to walk away humming one of his tunes for days after a performance. His signature tone has audiences captivated by solo performances and the Anthony Arya Band's raw energy ignites the stage with electrifying roots rock.Circles & the Flames, Arya's third album, was released in May 2022 and has earned him multiple national awards. "Jaded Rust", a nostalgic endearing folk song, was selected by Nashville’s The Bluebird Cafe / Taylor Guitars' Golden Pick Contest. A hard-driving blues song,"Ballad of Eugene" earned him a spot as a finalist in the International Songwriting Competition Americana category as well as a finalist in the Telluride Blues and Brews Festival's Blues Challenge. "Lovers of Valdaro", a haunting love song, was selected as a Finalist in the International Acoustic Music Awards.Fans are awaiting the fourth album recorded at historic Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco coming out in early 2024!JESSE BREWSTER(website / bandcamp / facebook / instagram)—Jesse Brewster is a roots-music Renaissance man — a singer/songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist who's spent the better part of two decades sharpening his personal brand of West Coast Americana.The Lonely Pines, Jesse Brewster’s fifth LP, finds the songwriter focusing on a different sort of transit: the process of moving on, either toward acceptance of past mistakes or in the direction of better opportunities. Occupying the middle ground between folk music and rock & roll, it’s an album that mixes amplified anthems like “Let’s Run Away” with the warm, western wooziness of “Woman in My Mind,” the gold rush-era barroom bounce of “Bitter Pill,” and the Celtic folk of “Amber Kinney.” When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, Jesse was forced to finish the album’s final three tracks in his home studio, playing nearly every instrument himself and rounding up the strongest tracks of his career. Among them is the song “Close to Home” — a roadhouse roots-rocker filled with vocal harmonies and jangling guitar riffs — in which Brewster turns the isolation of the COVID era into an opportunity to count his blessings, rather than focus on his obstacles. He learned that lesson years ago, when his brother lost his battle with PKD. These days, Brewster still has a lot to be thankful for. A prolific creator, Jesse Brewster balances his solo career with side projects that explore the wider orbits of his musical tastes, including an R&B-influenced record, a hard rock trio, and a rock opera that is being developed for Broadway. He’s a music instructor, a producer, a road warrior, and a multi-instrumentalist. Above all, though, Jesse is a songwriter, turning his vocal abilities, writing chops, and instrumental skills into a signature mix of folk and Americana-rock. Jesse grew up on the go. Years later, he’s creating the kind of music that makes an audience pause in its tracks. So turn on, tune in, and drop the needle on the first track — because The Lonely Pines are a lovely place to visit.It’s a sound that’s every bit as diverse as his background. Raised by hippie parents in the mountains of northern California, the Big Island of Hawaii, and the San Francisco Bay Area, Jesse grew up on the move, attending 10 different schools by the time he turned 12 years old. Music by Willie Nelson, Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Tom Petty, Fleetwood Mac, Bob Marley and The Eagles filled his early childhood, deepening his appreciation of sharply written songs and diverse arrangements. Years later, when he first hit the road as a traveling musician, he immediately felt at home on tour, having already spent much of his life in constant motion.“One of the basic principles of songwriting is ‘Write what you know,'” says Jesse, who launched his solo career with 2005’s Confessional. “In the beginning, I was inspired by my own experiences. Over time, I branched out into telling other people’s stories, too.”Brewster’s experience involves the loss of his brother, Jim, who passed away from Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) while both siblings were in their 20s. The loss prompted Jesse to write his first lyrics, kickstarting a songwriting habit that would draw upon the guitar skills he’d been developing since his teenage years, as well as the hook-heavy craft he’d absorbed from his heroes. Later, while battling the same disease, Jesse received a life-saving kidney transplant from his wife. As a storyteller, hechronicles it all in his music, releasing records that mix gentle folk songs, heartland country-rockers, guitar-slinging barn burners, autobiographical lyrics, and character-driven storytelling into the same track list. With support from everyone from CNN (who utilized his song “My Great Escape” for the network’s coverage of the 2012 U.S. Presidential campaign) to San Francisco’s iconic radio station KFOG, he continues to tell his story as it unfolds — song after song, album after album.PAUL SOUNDER(website / bandcamp / facebook / instagram)—I was born to a pianist and a drummer at Druid City Hospital October 3, 1982 and grew up with piano lessons and baseball practice in bluesy Tuscaloosa, Alabama. During the magical Summer before high school, I picked up the bass and guitar and joined my first band, Forgotten Daze. After countless gigs and a degree in English from the University of Alabama, I committed my life to music. I moved to San Francisco in 2006 and began playing bass guitar, Colombian maracas, and West African drums, writing music, and touring the country with an experimental rock band Antioquia.In 2013, after performing nearly a thousand concerts, traveling across the country several times, and releasing three studio albums and four live albums of original music, the members of Antioquia decided to stop touring and take time to work on their own projects. Since then I’ve had the opportunity to write and record an album of my original music, teach and learn from hundreds of fantastic students, and perform and record with many inspiring musicians and songwriters in the Bay Area, including three-time Grammy Award winner Fantastic Negrito, flamenco guitar virtuoso Jason McGuire, prolific songwriters Heather Normandale and Rachel Lark, and Cumbia powerhouse La Misa Negra.
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