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August 2 - 3
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Were you at this year’s Sugar Maple Music Festival? Or are you among those who haven’t yet attended?
Either way, check out our new video, shot during our 15th annual festival this past August. You might just see yourself – or you might see what you missed and decide you need to attend next year!
A huge shout-out to Tack Video Production for bringing our fun, family-friendly festival to life. From the stellar musicians to the Roots and Reasons stage workshops to the jam sessions, Tack Video captured it all.
Watch the video to see what makes the Sugar Maple so special, then mark your calendar for August 2 and 3, 2019!
Award-winning Cincinnati favorites The Tillers return to the Sugar Maple Festival in 2018, bringing Southern Wisconsin another hard-driving dose of punk- and bluegrass-infused traditional American music. Their first ten years as a band have taken them all over North America and Europe, as well as a feature appearance on Tom Brokaw’s documentary on US Highway 50, and have yielded five albums of increasingly innovative takes on familiar string band music that range from high-energy rockers to tender harmonic ballads.
The band’s latest album, The Tillers (2018), is fresh out of the studio. Check out this track and video.
The Tillers keep adding new songs and sonic ideas to their repertoire, but at the end of the day their wheelhouse is the classic American folk song, with a melody older than their grandparents, but with a thump and twang all their own.
–written by Brad Wolbert
Get ready for some homespun Milwaukee bluegrass! Thistledown Thunders will perform at the 2017 Sugar Maple Music Festival. The band includes Krystal Kuehl (guitar), Johanna Rose (bass), Jack Tell (guitar) and Ernest Brusubardis IV (fiddle). They have been providing toe-tapping bluegrass to Milwaukee and southeastern Wisconsin since 2014.
Thistledown Thunders honor traditional bluegrass and folk music while adding a modern touch that makes their music more accessible to a wider audience. Some of their influences include Bill Monroe, Punch Brothers, Ralph Stanley, Earl Scruggs, and Steve Earle.
You’ve got plenty of time before Sugar Maple Fest to get to know this Wisconsin band, but why wait? Check out their Facebook page and the video below for a preview right now. Look for upcoming shows to attend. For extra credit, drink a beer and say “Thistledown Thunders” three times really fast!
–Written by Daniel Seifried
https://youtu.be/GnhI9AjszGg
“The group highlights the haunting underbelly of the sounds of traditional Americana and early country music… Glass Mountain’s music stuns in its ability to capture the past with elegance and triumph.” -Chicago Tribune
Sugar Maple Music Festival is proud to announce that Glass Mountain is in our 2017 lineup! Glass Mountain is a Chicago-based band that brings old-time and early country music to life. The American folk trio includes Heather Malyuk, Sara Leginsky, and Ari Bolles. They are three dedicated singers and multi-instrumentalists who came together to create a mixture of mountain ballads and love songs that will touch a part of your soul.
Glass Mountain released their latest album Restless Mind, in 2106. The album highlights Glass Mountain’s devotion to their craft and the band’s ability to add their own creative touches to make music that sounds both traditional and new.
–written by Daniel Seifried
Mal aux doights or “Mal-O-Dua” means sore and weary finger from working!
What happened when Django Reinhardt met Merle Travis? A new style of acoustic swing was born!! Well…actually that never did really happen. However, that is the blending of styles that Mal-O-Dua is built on.
The duo pulls from a wide range of sources including early French pop, traditional Hawaiian music, Gypsy jazz, Kentucky finger picking, Western Swing, Parisian waltz, and the American standards songbook to name a few. These styles are blended to create a fresh new sound.
Cedric Baetche was born and raised in Reims, in the Champagne region of France. He has lived intermittently in Madison, WI for about a decade. Ced is a professional painter with a love of portrait, still live, and landscape painting. He studied Culinary Arts at Madison, WI’s MATC and is a certified french baker. Ced’s main guitar influence is the Kentucky finger picker Merle Travis.
Chris Ruppenthal was born in Madison, WI and grew up around the state. He is also leader for the group Caravan Gypsy Swing Ensemble and is primarily influenced by French jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. Chris has also been known to slide around, playing country and Hawaiian steel guitar.
The 2016 Sugar Maple Traditional Music Festival kicks off with the Malt House Happy Hour Set with Mal-O-Dua.
