In an economically recessed climate, Nappy Roots has joined the rest of the nation in trying to understand and work through financial and emotional struggles. No stranger to challenges, this five-man collective from Kentucky tackled their obstacles and, in the process, their self-proclaimed best and most honest work emerged --The Pursuit of Nappyness. In this sixth studio album, Nappy Roots, with lyrical originality, examine reason, truth and our inalienable rights.

Since entering the music scene in 1998, Nappy Roots have remained real, humble, talented guys with an undeniable southern swagger. After the international success of Watermelon, Chicken, & Grits, selling over 3 million albums, the members of Nappy Roots were flying high while still acutely aware of how far it could be to the bottom should they fall. It is that practical presence of mind that helped them sustain touring as a group for ten years. Fans and friends can be used interchangeably when referring to their army of followers.

For most people, it is normal to only share intimate moments with friends, but for the members of Nappy, it is no different when in their living room, in the studio, or on stage as they possess the gift of honesty and deliver that message with charisma. That truthfulness is especially reflected in The Pursuit of Nappyness -- inspired and written for this moment in time.

http://www.nappyroots.com

Few musical artists résumés list membership in a band inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame; fewer still can lay claim to being a founding member of the seminal band credited with creating Country Rock; and only one artist can include all the above in addition to being one half of the most successful duo of the 1970s. When chronicling the current commercial and critical success of artists like Keith Urban, Brooks & Dunn, and the pairing of Alison Krauss & Robert Plant for 2009's Album Of The Year Raising Sand, it is not overstating things to say a direct line can be drawn back to Jim Messina's legacy with Buffalo Springfield, Poco and Loggins & Messina.

A supremely talented guitarist, Jim Messina began working with the Buffalo Springfield in 1966 as a recording engineer on their second album Buffalo Springfield Again. In 1967, at the request of the group and Atlantic Records founder and president Ahmet Ertegun, Messina was asked to produce the band's third and final album Last Time Around. Shortly thereafter, he replaced bass player Bruce Palmer -- touring and recording with the band up until completion and release of their swan song album..

Leading the way as producer, arranger, vocalist and guitarist, and contributing songs such as “Listen To A Country Song” (subsequently recorded by country singer, Lynn Anderson, it was released as a single in 1972 and climbed to #3 on the charts), “Nobody But You”, “Same Old Wine” and “Peace Of Mind”, the album Kenny Loggins with Jim Messina Sittin' In was released in November of 1971 and an accidental duo was born.

Now, nearly 45 years after first stepping into the studio with Stephen Stills, Neil Young and Richie Furay to engineer Buffalo Springfield Again, Jim Messina is hitting the road with guitar in hand to tell the stories and sing the songs that made Buffalo Springfield, Poco and Loggins & Messina iconic American groups.

http://www.jimmessina.com

This summer will be Resin Music's 5th Annual Surf Roots Tour -- the #1 destination for summertime good vibes! The tour kicks off July 21 at the Roxy in Los Angeles and hits over 20 cities bringing together reggae, rock and surf music with environmental consciousness.

The artists are Anuhea from Maui, Hawaii, The Green from Oahu, HI. Stranger from San Diego, CA, and Tamarama from Tamarama Beach, Australia!

Anuhea enjoyed the spotlight. She was the head anchor for the daily campus-wide news, hosted a variety of TV shows for local television stations, and acted in school musicals. Receiving numerous scholarships for her achievements in film production, she attended film school in Orange County, CA, but realized she wasn't heading in the direction she was most passionate about, music. So she traded her formal education for a real-life one. Returning to the islands, she began performing at local coffee shops and restaurants.

Anuhea eventually put a band together and, until this point, has acted as her own manager, booking agent, music producer and distributor. Anuhea took recordings from a live taping for a public radio station and turned them into her first real demo CD Rough Cuts. With a delicate blend of fragility, strength and sass, Anuhea blends engaging lyrics with acoustic soul, pop and reggae into a style that has earned her a reputation as Hawaii's newest rising star. Her signature guitar flow, sultry vocals and honest song writing make her a female version of multimillion selling Hawaii-based artist Jack Johnson.

The Green is Caleb Keolanui, JP Kennedy, Ikaika Antone and Zion Thompson. They all fell in love with music at a very young age listening to legendary artists like Bob Marley, Aswad, UB40, Steel Pulse, Midnite and so many others.

Caleb and JP were cofounders of the group Next Generation. Ikaika (The Next Generations's keyboard player) had previously worked with lead guitarist and vocalist Zion Thompson. Despite The Next Generations success, a follow up album was never recorded. So Caleb, JP, Ikaika and Zion got together and formed The Green.

Based out of the South Bay of San Diego, the members of Stranger draw inspiration from their diverse surroundings. It is multicultural and musical diversity that grants Stranger a soulful blend of reggae roots, rock and jazz infused with conscious lyrics.

In 2002 Stranger began their first official recording experience with the recording techniques professor from Southwestern College. This turned out to be a three year process; the album was suitably titled Life Lessons. Directly after, Stranger wrote a whole new set of music and immediately began recording their second album. During the Shelter From The Storm recording sessions, Stranger added trombone and sax to the group.

http://www.resinmusic.com

Nearly three decades ago, the BoDeans were formed when Kurt Neumann and Sammy Llanas initiated a unique singing and songwriting partnership in Waukesha, Wisconsin. The partnership was built on give and take, whether in the trading of lyrical or melodic ideas, an exchange of guitar riffs, or the blending of vocal harmonies. As frontmen for what would become one of America’s premier roots-rock bands, the duo forged a signature sound based on heartfelt lyrics, passionate harmonies and ringing guitars.

The distinct sound of the BoDeans first emerged on their critically acclaimed debut, Love & Hope & Sex & Dreams, which also saw production by T-Bone Burnett. Released on Slash/Warner Bros. in 1986, the album reached 115 on the Billboard charts and quickly propelled the group into the national spotlight.

As if to confirm the status they had achieved, the BoDeans went on to release yet another Top 100 best-seller, 1989’s Home. The record was followed by Black And White in 1991, and by 1993, there was an urge for the group to return to their roots. The BoDeans decided to reenlist T-Bone Burnett for the production of Go Slow Down, which ultimately yielded the Party Of Five theme song, “Closer To Free”. In 1996, around the time their sixth studio album, Blend, was released, “Closer To Free” found a home in Billboard’s Top 10. The song catapulted the BoDeans to even greater heights, and earned an ASCAP award for being one of the most played songs at radio that year.

In an industry where careers can be shorter than the duration of a song, the BoDeans have proven their longevity. The partnership between Kurt Neumann and Sammy Llanas has remained steadfast since the early ‘80s, withstanding the test of time and various all-star lineups. Despite an impressive past that includes eight albums in the Billboard Top 200 and multiple singles in the Top 40, the BoDeans — and more importantly, the partnership that is its core — aren’t about to call it quits anytime soon.

http://www.bodeans.com

The last time David Lowery played the WOW Hall (September, 2007), he was fronting a reunited Camper Van Beethoven and performing to a sellout crowd along with Built To Spill. Now Lowery returns with both of his bands -- Cracker and Camper Van are performing together here for the first time.

Alt-rock icons Cracker were recently signed to 429 Records and are touring in support of their collection of new songs, Sunrise In the Land of Milk and Honey. Longtime musical cohorts David Lowery and Johnny Hickman have teamed up again with drummer Frank Funaro and bassist Sal Maida and along with stellar producer David Barbe (Drive By Truckers), have created a uniquely eclectic trove of new tunes. Well-worn words used to describe their sound — brash, irreverent, sharp-witted, anthemic and riveting — all descriptives are in full effect on the new project that bursts with their trademark rock, punk, glam, surf and country aesthetic. Friends John Doe, Patterson Hood and Adam Duritz also make spirited guest turns on Sunrise. The first single released for radio is “Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out With Me”.

Camper Van Beethoven formed in 1983 in Redlands, California, and were at first called Camper Van Beethoven and the Border Patrol. In 1985, the band reduced its name to Camper Van Beethoven and recorded their debut album, Telephone Free Landslide Victory. The record featured their first successful single, "Take the Skinheads Bowling", the lesser hit "The Day That Lassie Went to the Moon", and an experimental cover version of Black Flag's "Wasted". Their self-titled third album featured guest membership from experimental banjo and guitar player Eugene Chadbourne on their cover of Pink Floyd's "Interstellar Overdrive" and several other tracks. The song "Good Guys and Bad Guys" from this record also enjoyed some underground college radio play.

Camper Van Beethoven frequently tours with Cracker, and in 2005 the two groups started an annual three-night "Campout" at Pappy and Harriet's Pioneertown Palace in Pioneertown, California. The Campout has seen appearances by Built to Spill, Neko Case, Magnolia Electric Company and John Doe, as well as sets from the individual members of the band.

http://www.crackersoul.com

The Hold Steady is on a North American tour this summer in support of their new album Heaven Is Whenever, released May 4 on Vagrant Records.

Raves for Heaven Is Whenever are rolling in, with Rolling Stone.com calling the new songs “insanely great,” and adding, “these guys have only been making records for what, six years now, and they've made five of the best albums released in that time span - who gets on a roll like that?”

The Hold Steady has been lauded for the scope, depth, truth and heart they bring to chronicling the American rock myth. Heaven Is Whenever was produced by Dean Baltulonis, who also engineered the band’s Almost Killed Me and produced Separation Sunday, and was recorded at Dreamland Recording Studios in Upstate NY and Wild Arctic Studios in Queens, NY.

Singer Craig Finn says Heaven Is Whenever is about, “embracing suffering and understanding its place in a joyful life. The lyrics speak a lot about struggle and reward.”

Piano and keys take a backseat to guitar on the new record, which also gets production help from guitarist Tad Kubler.

“I really believe the album exposes new elements of the band that we hinted at on other records but weren’t able to fully realize until this one,” says Kubler. “Rather than just concentrate on changes in the instrumentation, we made changes to the song writing process.”

http://www.theholdsteady.net

When you record the type of smart, catchy songs Mat Kearney cut for his 2006 album Nothing Left to Lose, you end up spending a lot of time on the road. And after that album's title track throttled up the charts, that's exactly what Kearney did. Three years later, he returns with City of Black & White, an album informed by the traveling, performing and adventuring the Oregon-born, Nashville-based singer did while supporting his breakthrough album. An openhearted album of self-discovery, City of Black & White is a chronicle of the people he met and missed during that journey. Musically, it's an upping of the ante, laced with hooks and rhythms that are meant to sneak up on you quietly and quickly, en route to winning your love.

If Nothing Left to Lose sent Kearney on a marathon tour -- during which (in between his own headline stints) he opened for the likes of John Mayer, Sheryl Crow and The Fray -- it also built up to an eventual happy return to Nashville, his home for the past eight years. And City of Black & White definitely reflects that, as it's marked by the pride and happiness that comes with spending five years trying to make it, and then finally getting there.

A quintessential late-bloomer to music, Kearney didn't write his first song until midway through college. Raised by hippie parents in Oregon, he was charmed early on by music, smitten with albums like Michael Jackson's Thriller and Paul Simon's Graceland. But it wasn't until the summer between his junior and senior year at California State University Chico that his musical life began. Splitting for Nashville, he slept on a friend's couch for what seemed like an eternity, before cutting the learn-as-you-go debut album Bullet in 2004. Three years later, and thanks in large part to VH1 -- which kept “Nothing Left to Lose” in rotation for 45 consecutive weeks, before sending Kearney out as the headliner of the channel's first You Oughta Know tour -- he was playing Madison Square Garden and appearing on The Late Show With David Letterman. “Nothing Left to Lose,” “Undeniable” and “Breathe In Breathe Out” all cracked the Top 40.

In 2006, after several years of fronting the critically acclaimed Colorado-based band Newcomers Home, Katie Herzig moved to Nashville to strike it solo. Before leaving Colorado, she single-handedly recorded and produced Weightless, a tour-de-force of innovative sonics and songwriting. Since then, Katie’s song “Heaven’s My Home” received a 2007 Grammy nomination and she has steadily become a fixture in Nashville’s up-and-coming indie music scene. Her songs have been featured on NPR, KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic, Frito Lay and Honda commercials and many television shows including several episodes of television’s highest rated drama, Grey’s Anatomy. Katie has toured with the Ten Out Of Tenn tour, Hotel Café Tour, PASTE Magazine songwriter tour and has supported national acts such as The Fray, Brandi Carlile, Shawn Colvin, Aqualung and others. In 2008, Katie was featured in Billboard Magazine’s “Now Hear This” as well as one of PASTE Magazine’s 25 “Best of What’s Next” artists. She continues to outdo herself with each new musical endeavor.

www.matkearney.com