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This Year's Lineup of Artists
A festival different than any you’ve experienced, Ski Jam throws a different twist on the average festival model. Intimate venues, no long lines, and no binoculars needed. Ski Jam is about the music, the fans, and the scenic slopes of Steamboat that highlight this one of a kind festival. Priding itself on the casual,
relaxed vibe of Steamboat, the Ski Jam festival schedule is a perfect compliment to its stunning
mountain surroundings.
The Wailers : Keller Williams
Jonathan Tyler and The Northern Lights : T Bird and the Breaks
SkiJam Retro Holiday Party Weekend:
Skyrocket : The Molly Ringwalds : Super Diamond
Relix Magazine eloquently summed up Ski Jam’s unique appeal:
“As much as we love High Sierra, Bonnaroo, and the other multi-day all-day music bashes, it’s an exhilarating relief to find a music festival that concentrates its acts in the evenings, keeping the days free for skiing, boarding, gourmet snowshoe treks, sledding or just working your way by the fireplace through the gigantic bottle of Ketel One you got for your birthday.”
-Relix ’04 Ski Jam WebLog
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Keller Williams
Keller Williams has been called guitars mad-scientist, a one-man-band for the new millennium and dozens of other clever sobriquets dreamed up by fans and music journalists trying to get a handle on his uplifting and ever-shifting style of music. Williams is considered by some but not by himself, to be a master of the acoustic guitar, known for his ability to solo over layers of spontaneously created loops. He is a generous performer who plays down to earth acoustic music that defies any effort to find a convenient pigeonhole. If pressed for a definition, Williams, as adept with language as he is with a guitar pick, calls it solo, acoustic jazzfunk reggae technograss - or simply - solo acoustic dance music.
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Listen Here:
For more music and info, visit the
Keller Williams website
Quick Links:
The Wailers
Keller Williams
Jonathan Tyler and The Northern Lights
T-Bird and the Breaks
Skyrocket
The Molly Ringwalds
Super Diamond
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The Wailers
Together with Bob Marley, the Wailers have sold in excess of 250 million albums worldwide. In England alone, they’ve notched up over twenty chart hits, including seven Top 10 entries. Outside of their
groundbreaking work with Marley, the Wailers have also played or performed with international acts like Sting, the Fugees, Stevie Wonder, Carlos Santana, and Alpha Blondy, as well as reggae legends
such as Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer, and Burning Spear.
Their nucleus formed in 1969, when Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, and Peter Tosh recruited the Barrett brothers – bassist Aston “Family Man” and drummer Carly – from Lee Perry’s Upsetters to play on hits such as Lively Up Yourself, Trenchtown Rock, Duppy Conqueror, and many more besides. Inspired by Rastafari and their ambitions of reaching an
international audience, this is the line-up that pioneered roots rock reggae, and signed to Island Records in 1971. Bunny and Peter left two years later. It was at this point that the in-demand Barrett
brothers – whose rhythms also underpinned innumerable seventies’ reggae hits by other acts – assumed the title of Wailers, and backed Marley on the group’s international breakthrough album, Natty Dread. Under Family Man’s musical leadership, they then partnered Bob Marley on the succession of hit singles and albums that made him a global icon, winner of several Lifetime Achievement awards, and
Jamaica’s best-loved musical superstar.
Drummer Carlton “Carlie” Barrett died in 1987, leaving his brother as the main beneficiary of the Wailers' mantle. Subsequent line-ups have
revolved around Family Man, who is widely regarded as one of the world’s greatest bass players. Modest and unassuming, he was present on all of those unforgettable performances by Bob Marley & The
Wailers from the seventies. He and lead singer Elan Attias form the main axis of the current Wailers – a group that’s one of the last, great reggae institutions, yet which refuses to live off past glories.
Hailing from Los Angeles, Elan was discovered by Wailers’ guitarist Al Anderson, and first sang with the band in 1997. After a brief hiatus to record his acclaimed debut album Together As One, produced by No Doubt’s Tony Kanal, he was soon called home by the Wailers’ mesmerising rhythms, and the opportunity to revisit those landmark reggae hits. Since reuniting with them, Elan has seamlessly worked some of his own songs into their repertoire, and also formed a joint production venture with Family Man that’s designed to extend the Marley legacy yet further, and branch out into all areas of
contemporary music. By way of example, their first project – which promises to be a revelation – is a new Wailers’ album featuring some of the biggest names in popular music. Prepare to be amazed!
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Listen Here:
For music and info, visit
The Wailers Band website
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T Bird and the Breaks
High school for Tim Crane, A.K.A. T Bird, wasn’t a school at all; it was a record shop. T Bird spent most skipped schooldays tagging cars with fliers in exchange for records — really good records.
Fast-forward six or seven years: Crane hits the road looking for a place where the music’s going down, and it was a train — not a plane or a bus — that first brought him to Austin. T Bird spent the summer of 2006 riding the rails from the hills of New England through New York and Philly to the California coast. Along the way, he jammed with Nashville backups, toured the hallowed grounds of Memphis and (to hear him tell it) broke a heart or two in New Orleans.
But it was a cock-eyed stroll down Sixth Street in Austin that had the biggest impact on the wandering songwriter (other than his father singing him to sleep with Mississippi John Hurt and Howlin’ Wolf). Through the din of reveling tourists and bar-hopping college kids, Crane heard the unmistakable strains of some real blues. He walked into the bar and sat in with the band for a few tunes thinking, "Yeah, this is the place."
As good as his word, he was back a few months later, showing up with a slim roll of bills, a car full of vinyl and very big plans for the city. It took him just one year in Texas to assemble T Bird and the Breaks. The first call that the band was forming in Austin went to rhythm guitarist Sam "Sammy P" Patlove, an import from the hill towns of western Massachusetts.
Next came guitarist Johnny "Too-Bad" Allison, a Texan from 10 miles outside The Middle of Nowhere, and then Cody "Sir" Furr who grew up in Lubbock. They’re joined by Houston "H-Town" Rawls on tenor sax and Austin native/UT jazzcomp degree-holder Matthew Price on trombone. Baritone sax player Stephen "Beez" Beasley brings with him to the band a lot of experience that all started with his first childhood look at the shiny buttons and keys of a brand-new saxophone resting in a case lined in deep blue velvet.
It wouldn’t be much without the backup vocals Sasha Ortiz, Stephanie Hunt, and Jazz Mills. Ten members in all, the group is a tight-knit unit, good friends who enjoy each other’s company (work or play), who connect with each other and with audiences, who love playing music and love the music they’re playing, who are living their dreams.
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Listen Here:
Visit the T Bird and the Breaks' website
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Jonathan Tyler and The
Northern Lights
Something magical happens when you combine the ferocity of youthful abandon with the serenity of an old soul. Enter Jonathan Tyler and The Northern Lights; a soul singing and fiercely hard rocking band. In just one listen, this brood will have you right where they want you -- rocking.
Hailing from Dallas, Texas, Jonathan Tyler and The Northern Lights first began to take shape when childhood friends Jonathan and Kansas began playing guitar in their teens. With shared common influences ranging from the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix to Bob Dylan, The Band and Muddy Waters, the two were compelled to write and play together.
Night after night they deliver a wall of sound with a groove so undeniable it makes fans rise to their feet and stand at attention. The band is tight and Jonathan’s raw energy coupled with blazing guitar work and rugged vocals has heads turning.
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Listen Here:
For music, visit Jonathan Tyler's website
Quick Links:
The Wailers
Keller Williams
Jonathan Tyler and The Northern Lights
T-Bird and the Breaks
Skyrocket
The Molly Ringwalds
Super Diamond
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Skyrocket
SKYROCKET! is perhaps the most wickedly original party band to emerge from any music scene, let alone a city like Austin where original music rules.
Two things make SKYROCKET! stand out: 1) The players. All of them are recording artists in their own right. Maybe you've seen them before, on tour, on TV, or performing around Austin. 2) The songs. It all started when this handful of the city's most successful and well-loved songwriters discovered a common passion for '70s "solid-gold" music: Disco, glam rock, soft rock and soul one-hit wonders. One forgotten hit led to another, then the '70s led to the '80s, and the song list grew, cherry-picked for the ones most likely to get screams of sudden recognition from the audience.
Calling themselves The K-TEL Hit Machine, They caught on quickly as one of the freshest, funnest dance bands around. By the end of 2005, they had even charmed city's impossible-to-charm music critics at the Austin Chronicle's holiday bash, and the band's popularity ‘SKYROCKETed’ from there, hence the name change.
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Listen Here:
Visit the official Skyrocket website
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The Molly Ringwalds
The Molly Ringwalds are not just another "cover" band. They are The World's Greatest 80's Experience. Hailing from Sheffield, England, this legendary quintet has been able to combine their individual and very formidable talents to create the true essence of the most radical decade to ever be called "The 80's."
The Molly Ringwalds create an 80's Experience by honing their abilities to apply make-up and tease their hair while showcasing all the musical genres of the decade. From their days of building a following at a pub located in a large portion of a big city near a small village located south of a place you've never heard of, to selling out large venues in the United States, The Molly Ringwalds are an indescribable act. Luck and circumstance brought these young lads together. The rest is the history of the 80's...
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Listen Here:
For music and info, visit
The Molly Ringwalds website
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Super Diamond
When your parents popped in a Neil Diamond tape on repeat during long interstate road trips, you reluctantly sang along. Never thought you'd turn out to be a Diamond fan now, right? But singing along to "Sweet Caroline" and "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show" is so addictive now, you'd do anything to see Neil on stage.
A band out of San Francisco can put a rest to that Diamond thirst. Super Diamond delivers a high-octane Diamond tribute show that rocks! After assembling a band of truly kindred spirits, Surreal Neil and Super Diamond began to perform regularly in San Francisco and then all over the U.S., and something quite wonderful happened: People turned out in large numbers to see them, and returned again and again and again...
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Listen Here:
For music, visit Super Diamond's website
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