Xylo Entertainment Current Artist Roster Sara Horishnyk | www.xyloentertainment.com [email protected] | (612) 217-0754 ​ ​ Sarah Morris - Folk, Country, Pop - DUO OR FULL BAND ​ Official Website FULL EPK - www.sarahmorrismusic.com/epk ​ ​ “Rootsy singer Sarah Morris offers a Norah Jones-like approach to Americana/alt-country, smoothing overs its rough edges with a butter-velvety voice and an intimate songwriting style.” Chris Riemenschneider, Star Tribune. ​ ​ ​ ​ Over the last five years, Americana singer-songwriter Sarah Morris has earned a reputation for engaging performances, with a voice both clear and lush. Sarah hails from Minneapolis, Minnesota, where from a young age, she immersed herself in her parent’s eclectic record collection before finally falling in love with the storytelling and songcraft in country music. Spending a few years in Music City instilled a traditional songwriting sensibility that has earned her latest album Ordinary Things national airplay, critical acclaim, and has propelled her into the national spotlight. The marriage between Morris’s captivating vocals, sharply crafted lyrics and her talented band, the Sometimes Guys (Thomas Nordlund, Andrew Foreman, and Zachary Schmidt) creates a signature sound steeped in folk-rock, alt-country and sprinkled with a bit of pop. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Andriana Lehr - Singer/Songwriter, Americana Folk SOLO ​ OR DUO Official Website Bandcamp Facebook The Midwest has a strange way of framing darkness in the light. Surrounded by wide-open spaces which are submerged in pervasive nighttime for months out of the year, it shapes the sights and sounds created in the mind and written of the heart. Andriana Lehr was born the youngest daughter of a farmer in a small, South Dakota town. Despite having spent the last decade as a city-dweller in MPLSTP, the artifacts of her childhood milieu can still be distinctly heard in her music. With a vocal range vast as the open prairie, her melodies combine the soaring range of Joni Mitchell with the depth and grounded roots of Aimee Mann and Brandi Carlile. Her song styles range from folk, Americana, and alt-country to pop-ballads, with notes of jazz and blues influence. With early influences by the likes of Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes), Natalie Merchant, Sarah McLachlan, Wilco, Jewel, and Joni Mitchell, Lehr’s songwriting has evolved to speak straight to the soul, either through the heart, or through heady, existential lyrics that portray the struggles of 21st century existence. Lehr’s most recent release, “Artifacts,” exemplifies the confusion and growth that comes through self-exploration and the search for meaning and finding one’s place in this world. It is now available on most streaming services and iTunes – https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/artifacts/id1151708183 ​ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brianna Kocka - Singer/Songwriter, Americana Folk SOLO OR FULL BAND ​ Official Website Brianna Kocka is a singer-songwriter from Minneapolis, MN. She has been part of various musical acts throughout the Twin Cities—most notably Sun ​ Gods to Gamma Rays and CAETANI. ​ ​ ​ After five years away from the acoustic guitar, and while living on an island off the east coast for ten months, she tapped into her roots and wrote her first Americana album as a form of therapy to deal with the isolation of island living. Brianna is in the studio recording, with hopes to release these songs in the summer of 2017. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tim Houlihan - Folk, Country, SOLO OR FULL BAND ​ Official Website Tim Houlihan is a singer songwriter whose songs are carved from real life with articulate enthusiasm, strong grooves and sophisticated playing. His influences are Jackson Browne, Stephen Stills, James Taylor, Shawn Colvin, and Dawes. Performances have traversed the United States and Europe from living rooms to large halls and his performances draw listeners in with intimate stories and warm anecdotes. Tim’s library of work continues to grow across a never-ending horizon and he currently resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amethyst 3 - Jazz, Standards & Originals (Trio) ​ Official Website Byron Johnson-Blanchard’s Amethyst 3 focuses on the longstanding tradition of improvisation, using songs that range from originals to classic rock and jazz standards as catalysts for spontaneous musical interaction. The trio features some of the Twin Cities’ best improvising musicians who have performed with locally and regionally renown bands such as High & Mighty, New Primitives, and Bookhouse Trio. -- Byron Johnson-Blanchard-drums, Park Evans-guitar, Josh Granowski-bass -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Silverback Trio - Jazz, Originals ​ Official Website Silverback Trio brings an exciting energy to the Twin Cities jazz scene by fusing high-energy melodies with atmospheric harmonies through composition and improvisation. Silverback Trio is David Hirsch on keyboard and saxophone, Byron Johnson-Blanchard on drums, and Brent Wallace on bass. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lindsay Pedalty Trio - Jazz ​ Official Website Vocalist Lindsay Pedalty brings a fresh voice to the Twin Cities music scene. Her clear, unaffected voice is sophisticated and refreshing. She is comfortable singing a variety of music, including pop, both old and new rock, blues, jazz, standards, and even a country tune or two. Currently playing in a jazz trio with piano and bass guitar, she has experience performing at clubs and cafes with several local music acts around the Twin Cities as well as private events. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fairfax, AK - Folk, Rock ​ Official Website Pat Dougherty began writing songs in a borrowed storage closet. Tinkering with only a used drum set and an old organ he would periodically emerge to share the works in progress with a handful of close friends that would later become Fairfax, AK. After spending the summer performing around the Midwest, the group retreated to the attic of a worn yellow house in Frogtown and began crafting their upcoming debut album, Love Stories and Picture Shows. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Niki Becker - Folk, Rock ​ Official Website Niki Becker is an indie-folk, pop music inspired singer/songwriter. Becker and her band merge her love of folk and rock music by having layered electric guitars and powerful drums lay the foundation for her acoustic guitar to dance around on. She colors her playful, yet honest lyrics with vocals that are strong, sweet, and sometimes haunting. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ben Cook-Feltz - Rock, Pop ​ Official Website Iowa-raised, Minneapolis-based Ben Cook-Feltz is a singer, songwriter, drummer and self-taught pianist. Combining observational, sometimes quirky lyrics with melodies that hearken back to the classic sounds of the 60′s and 70′s, he has been entertaining audiences throughout the Midwest as a dynamic performer, whether playing solo, with his crackerjack band, or backing up some of the finest regional talent. His most recent record, She Doesn't Believe Me, was released in October 2015. ​ ​ "The best way to describe Ben Cook-Feltz's music may be Paul Simon singing songs about broken hearts and pants." - Iowa Public Radio ​ ​ "One of the sweetest, floweriest male folk-pop singer voices since the late Jeff Hanson was still with us." - Chris Riemenschneider, Minneapolis Star Tribune ​ "From the sprawling, spacy piano closing out "Full Moon" to the bouncing ‘90s top-40 feel-good basslines the preceded it, Cook-Feltz has a nifty way of carving his own space in the world of pop." - Local Current ​ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mayda - Pop, Rock, Funk ​ Official Website 4’10 ft and fit to slap some funk and attitude in some pop face! This young Korean American pop artist hails from Minneapolis, MN. After a summer of touring the Midwest, Europe, and South Korea, MAYDA is just released her second full length album entitled, Tusks in Furs with the help of world-class drummer, Michael Bland, DJ Chris Neviator, Sonny Thompson, and Tommy Barbarella (Prince, Soul Asylum, Nick Jonas & the Administration…). Teaming up once again with producer, Bland and company, the album will continue the new brand of funk pop that remains to be a mystery to name yet rightfully belongs to the self-taught songstress herself. MAYDA’s music has been featured locally (KARE 11, KSTP, The Current 89.3 FM, 107.1 mytalk FM) as well as nationally