ABOUT

Somewhere between the bright lights of the honky-tonk and the dark end of the street, there is a music that has, against all odds, remained immune from the centuries of attempts to constrict and divide it. It’s a powerful gumbo, blending the sounds of the hemispheres together in a uniquely powerful New World remix. Gram Parsons called it “Cosmic American Music.” Jim Dickinson called it “World Boogie.” George Clinton still calls it “the uncut funk.” It’s the true vein, the main line, but it can only be tapped by those who are willing to explore the other sides of our past, present and future.

Charles Hughes, author of Country Soul: Making Music and Making Race in the American South

KANDIA CRAZY HORSE is an indigenous (Pamunkey) and black singer-songwriter and activist based in Lenapehoking (NYC). Since the release of her critically acclaimed debut Stampede, she has graced stages with her Native Americana duo CACTUS ROSE including performing at the Brooklyn Americana festival, the Another Country festival, the Grand Ole Echo @ SXSW and beyond. Kandia has organized and performed at benefits for Indian Country including the “Sacred Water Medicine Show” she curated at Decolonize This Place (Artists Space) in Manhattan and a “Benefit Concert For Water Protectors at Standing Rock” at Brooklyn, NY’s Jalopy Theatre. She expresses an authentic and rich sonic vision of Affrilachian and indigenous styles of the southeast and Californian Laurel Canyon sounds. Kandia has been covered by publications including MOJO, the Village Voice, Acoustic Guitar, Creative Loafing, Jambands.com, and Rolling Stone. In 2022, Kandia served as a judge of Hamburg, Germany’s Reeperbahn Festival on their ANCHOR Award Board. She performed at Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall in July 2023 as part of the Songs of the Living Choir in the Afrofuturist opera “Parable of the Sower” written by Bernice Johnson Reagon (Sweet Honey in the Rock) & Toshi Reagon.

CACTUS ROSE guitarist JEFF MCLAUGHLIN creates musical soundscapes filled with passion, depth, and a progressive spirit. His playing and composition are both steeped in tradition and focused on new directions in creative music. 

Jeff has appeared around the world including the Montreux Jazz Festival, the Banff Jazz Workshop, the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, the Brooklyn Americana Festival, the NAMM Bass Bash, the Indianapolis Jazz Festival, the Jacksonville Jazz Festival, and the Philadelphia Folk Festival. He has performed as a sideman and with his own projects in famed venues such as NYC’s Apollo Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center, 55 Bar, Blue Note, Minton’s Playhouse, Bar Next Door, City Winery, and LA’s Blue Whale.

Guitarist, percussionist, singer, songwriter LONNIE HARRINGTON (Seminole/Shawnee) has been strumming, hitting, and singing his way throughout the eastern U.S. and eastern Canada for more than 45 years spanning many musical styles. As a leader and sideman he’s performed in diverse night club and concert venues such as SOB’s, The Blue Note, The Village Gate, Tramps, The Cornelia Street Café, The Shrine, Bostons’ Summerthing and The Sugar Shack , Summerstage, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Symphony Space, among others. He continues to perform as a sideman with different ensembles based in New York City. In 2008 he teamed up with singer/songwriter Ruben Gonzalez, performing in the greater New York Area as “Grooves of the Hemisphere”. In February 2019 he joined the Bronx N.Y. based creative collective LAFROJAZ. Since 1992, he has sung with New York City based Native American Drum Groups such as the Drum Circle Singers, The Iron Feather Singers, and sits in regularly with the Red Thunder Bear Singers. His album Northern Tropicale and Other Romantic Illusions was released in September 2017. The music represents the many influences of genres he’s comfortable performing in.