Brothers Comatose – Arann Harris & the Farm Band – Willy Tea Taylor

Literal brothers, Alex (banjo and vocals) and Ben Morrison (guitar and vocals) of The Brothers Comatose grew up in a house that was known for its music parties. “The Morrison house was a gathering place for local musicians – everyone would bring an instrument, call out tunes, call out changes, and just play for hours” says Brothers Comatose bassist and Morrison music party goer, Gio Benedetti. “I learned more in that living room than in any class I ever took.” The brothers took this generous, inclusive and rowdy attitude and brought it to stages all over San Francisco. With the addition of members Philip Brezina (fiddle) and Ryan Avellone (mandolin) the string quintet brings their original string music and the feel of an intimate music party to audiences all across the United States.

The environment the band creates with their music and their live shows isn’t the exclusive band vs. crowd world of rock and pop, but rather the sing-along, stomp-along, inclusive world that gave birth to string band music. The band – while playing festivals like Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Strawberry, High Sierra, Outside Lands, Kate Wolf, and SXSW, – has not lost sight of their roots, their fans and the relationships that have brought them where they are.

Despite their name, the band is anything but Comatose. They toss alligators (inflatable) into the crowd, they hand out chopsticks for audience-percussion-participation, and are known to jump down and play acoustic encores in the middle of the crowd at the end of a set. It’s just one, big, extended Morrison music party. Only now, the living room travels via Chevy G20 Conversion Van from state to state.

Arann Harris & the Farm Band  We make pesticide free music. No overdubs, no edits, RAW. Like conventional farming, our belief is that the creation of music has become overproduced, poisoned by progress and ignores where we have come from. Organic farming is not new, it has just been rediscovered… our music is the same. We are not doing anything new, just reminding people of our American musical history and folding in our unique Sonoma County perspective. The Farm Band was born on a single day of live recording in a 1900′s school house on the farm itself. We chose original and traditional material with the grand plan to make people happy. This is ruff, real and to be sung out loud together.

Willy Tea Taylor co-fronts The Good Luck Thrift Store Outfit with Chris Doud and regularly performs his solo material.

No Depression Magazine – “Willy is just one of those rural America, proletariat-friendly, humble, down-to-earth good ol’ boys, all bushy bearded, in faded denim overalls, wearing either a raggedy cap or straw hat, who can pick up a guitar or banjo and just play the hell out of it”…”Quite simply, Willy Tea Taylor is possibly one of the most important American singer/songwriters of our time.”

Saving Country Music – “Willy Tea has two types of songs: good ones, and great ones. And the great ones are so great, it is hard to listen to them and then say that better songs have ever been written. And this isn’t just from the lyrics, but the way the lyrics mesh with the chords, and Willy’s soothing voice.”