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THE TATERS
 SUMMERHAVEN
Ever since late 1999, Summerhaven has developed into one of the most versatile and fastest growing groups around. Trained at school and privately in classical and jazz, these guys have taken their abilities and applied them to creating their own original sound. The unique blend of rock and folk guitars, Celtic pennywhistles and melodies, African percussion and rhythms, and soul-filled saxophone and vocals continues to draw interest from people all over fueling an ever-increasing fan base and street team.
After Jeben Marshall and Kevin Hancock met in 1997 and discovered their shared musical interests, they went on the search for more musicians to form a complete band. After playing together for a year and a half often experimenting with new instrumentation, Jeben and Kevin were joined by Zack Bryant to play saxophone and Todd Hancock to add more percussion. In 2001, these guys teamed with bassist Jake McKenna and fiddler Alex Lee to record a 5 song demo at Oso Recording Studio in Richmond, VA. Before long, the word was out about the band and they began to play venues such as The State Fair of Virginia, The Harvest Festival, and Alley Katz while sharing the stage with the likes of the Rachel Leyco Band, Modern Groove Syndicate, and Copper Sails.
Finally, the guys of Summerhaven brought Adam Cristman on board in late 2001 to prepare for the recording of their debut, full-length album Wait for Tomorrow at 21st Street Recording. The 11 track CD was later mastered at Airshow Mastering (Jewel, Dave Matthews Band, String Cheese Incident) and released for purchase in November of 2002. Since then, the band’s name, music, mailing list, and fan base have grown and continue to grow rapidly through word of mouth and airtime on radio stations throughout Virginia.
Website: www.summerhavenband.com
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THE TATERS
 DEAN
FIELDS
In
less than a year, Dean Fields has gone from relative obscurity to the
fresh, new voice of the male singer-songwriter. Originally from Mechanicsville
VA, Fields began his music career by earning his undergraduate degree in music
composition from the College of William and Mary in Virginia. Upon graduation,
Fields made the decision to pursue his career further by enrolling in Graduate
school at University of Miami for Music Business.
Fields
had just begun to pen the songs that would make up his debut album,
"Imitations," when he was first discovered in 2001 by music critic
Evellyn McDonnell at a songwriting event in Florida. Upon receiving
the distinction of "Best in Miami" and performing at the premier
Billboard Live, the singer-songwriter made the decision to leave Miami and
dedicate himself to developing his craft and performing live.
While
promoting his debut album, "Imitations," Fields has performed at over
170 shows in clubs and college campuses along the east coast in 2003. He has
shared the stage with noteworthy acts including John Hiatt, Carbonleaf, Rusted
Root's Michael Glabicki, Catie Curtis, Bruce Hornsby, Virginia Coalition, Seven
Nations, Madeleine Peyroux, Richard Julian, and Vienna Teng. Released in October
of 2002, the album was engineered and co-produced by Alan Weatherhead (Clem
Snide, Denali) at Sound of Music Studios, which is owned by David Lowery of the
band Cracker.
The
album has garnered rave reviews and superior ratings from many publications and
critics, as well as becoming one of the top selling albums on CDBaby, the
internet's largest music distributor. Most recently, Billboard Magazine chose
Fields as one of the top six acts to showcase at the Independent Music World
Series in Nashville TN. Fields was the only singer-songwriter selected from over
1200 entries. He has also been a featured performer at BMI sponsored songwriting
events in New York, Nashville, and Los Angeles. Fields
continues to win over critics and audiences everywhere, and has even received an
enthusiastic thumbs up from recording artist David Gray. His music is being
featured in film scores, soundtracks, and on MTV's reality television shows Real
World, Road Rules, and Sorority Life Dean Fields is poised to make his mark.
Website: www.deanfields.com
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SCHNITZEL
 CHRIS
ADAMS
In an age where hype is king and outrageous personalities become a substitute for true artistry, there are very few performers who can actually live up to their promo packs and deliver the goods.
Fortunately for us die-hard music fans, there are a few of the latter still forging their way through the industry haze. Chris Adams is one of those few.
Artist, Writer, and Producer are just a few of the hats he wears on a regular basis. With two self-produced projects under his belt and scores of projects produced for other artists, he has attracted attention not only in his home state of Virginia, but also from several Nashville producers and publishers.
Several of his original songs have been on hold recently with major artists. In fact, so much of his material is floating around Nashville right now that it seems only a matter of time until he joins rank with other prominent artist/writers who have found that elusive golden door into Music City, USA.
Website:
www.chrisadams.net
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