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The WDVX Blue Plate Special – 10/25 – Lance and Lea / Andrew Finn McGill

October 25, 2023 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

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Dream loud. That’s the way Texas native Lance Kotara & Colorado cowgirl LeAnna Kaufman live their lives. It was no surprise the two songwriters would find each other in Nashville, forming the duo Lance and Lea.

Marked by heart pounding harmonies, prominent guitars & emotional lyrics & melodies, their collaborative genius is on fire, with over 400 songs already written together. Their first album “There Goes My Heart,” with Grammy award winning producer Paul Worley was released in late 2018 and their music has garnered airplay in the UK, Ireland, and in Music City, Nashville Tennessee.

The duo already has an award under their belt, winning “New Artist Of The Year” at the 2019 iHeart Radio Rocky Mountain Country Music Awards in Lea’s home state of Colorado. “There Goes My Heart” was also nominated for Album Of The Year at the 2020 iHeart Radio RMCMA’s.

In 2020 the couple raised over $16K on a fan funded crowdfunding campaign for their album “Great Big World” which was released early 2021. That same year, in the middle of a pandemic, they booked a 31 date Backyard PopUp Tour all over the US covering 26 states & over 12,000 miles in an effort to bring live music back to the people.

In 2021 they completed an 80 date, four month long Summer Tour, playing to even more fans across the US – this time traveling in a vintage RV aka “The Honeybee.”

The duo is set to release their first single off the new album “Songs From The Road” in July 2022 with a 50 date Summer tour kicking off as well.

Andrew Finn Magill has been featured on PBS, NPR, TEDx and MTV-U. Finn is a Fulbright fellow, North Carolina Arts Council fellow, and South Arts Emerging Traditional Artist. He has performed with John Doyle, Rising Appalachia, Charm City Junction, Open the Door for Three, Greg Ruby, The Paul McKenna Band, and Peter Mawanga among others. Finn grew up studying Irish, old-time, and bluegrass with dozens of the best fiddlers in the world every summer at The Swannanoa Gathering in Asheville, North Carolina. Finn has performed at venues which include Milwaukee Irish Fest, Celtic Connections, Olympia Hall in Paris, France, DisneyWorld, and Malawi’s Lake of Stars Festival.

In 2005 Finn debuted with Drive & Lift a collection of traditional and original Irish music. In 2009 Finn was awarded a Fulbright-mtvU Fellowship to spend a year in Malawi co-writing and co-producing a concept album about HIV/AIDS with Malawi pop icon Peter Mawanga. The result, Stories of AIDS: Mau a Malawi, is a soundscape of traditional Irish and Malawian sounds reimagined with an Afro-pop production and a riveting message of social justice. It was the inspiration for a multimedia show of the same name Finn wrote and co-directed with Jon Haas and Joseph Megel, and which debuted at the University of North Carolina’s Memorial Hall in October 2011.

In 2016, Finn released the two-part Kickstarter-funded concept album Roots and and Branches which features original acoustic music inspired by Irish and American music. Roots debuted at #46 on the Folk DJ charts and writes Grammy-winning Americana artist Tim O’Brien:

“He has learned from and now plays with the best in the genre. On Branches you can hear a new musical voice emerging. I’m gonna keep listening for Finn Magill.”

In 2014 Finn moved to Rio de Janeiro to study Brazilian choro music. In Rio he founded many Brazilian music groups including O Finno, Violino no Choro, Brazilian Strings Trio (with fellow American violinist Ted Falcon and Brazilian guitarist Nando Duarte) and Canta, Violino! the album of which was released on Ropeadope Records in 2018. Says the legendary Brazilian percussionist Airto Moreira (Chick Corea, Miles Davis):

“Its nice to see fresh, young musicians carrying on the traditions of Brazilian music. Finn Magill displays a love and authenticity that can fool you into thinking he is from Brazil. His style is playful and light, yet soulful and passionate. Congratulations!”

Fascinated by the connections between the fiddling traditions of Ireland and Scotland and their musical cousins of oldtime and bluegrass, in 2018 Finn created the lecture series “The Relationships between Irish, Scottish, and American Fiddle traditions” which is a musical presentation for adults that explores the connections between these styles through their fiddle tunes. Finn has given this lecture at universities across the country and museums across North Carolina. Finn has taught traditional Irish music, bluegrass, Brazilian choro, and old-time at over a dozen fiddle camps across the U.S, Scotland, Canada, Brazil, and France.

Finn currently has active projects with Dave Curley, Alan Murray, Seán Gray, and an acoustic jazz quartet. Finn tours as a solo artist and sideman with dozens of artists in various genres.

Details

Date:
October 25, 2023
Time:
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Event Categories:
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Venue

WDVX
301 S. Gay Street
Knoxville, TN 37902 United States
+ Google Map
Phone:
865-544-1029
Website:
View Venue Website

Organizer

WDVX
Phone:
865-544-1029
Email:
info@wdvx.com
Website:
View Organizer Website