If It's Too Loud...

Prescott Park Arts Festival is one of my all time favorite places to see a show. It's in a gorgeous public park on the waterfront in Portsmouth, NH, and it's a very reasonable suggested donation entry fee to get in. Unfortunately, I haven't been since pre-pandemic, as my schedule hasn't worked, or a show has gotten rained out when timing did work out. But, if I was going to make my return trip to the festival, I can't think of a better option than seeing two string supergroups: Mighty Poplar and New Dangerfield. Playing only their fifth show ever, New Dangerfield opened the show. The band is a black string group consisting of Kaia Kater, Jake Blount, Tray Wellington, and Nelson Williams. You would never know that this was a band that could count the number of total performances on one hand if they hadn't mentioned it. New Dangerfield had that perfect mix of playing tight and loose you get with folk/bluegrass/string bands, especially ones with a pedigree like the...

Photo by Justin French It's been a little while since we've heard from New Dangerfield (the string superband featuring Kaia Kater, Jake Blount, Tray Wellington, and Nelson Williams) are back with a brand new single. "Put No Walls Around Your Garden" was co-written by Kaia Kater and Billy Keane, and it's simply a masterclass in folk music. It's surprisingly sparse and maintains a tension throughout the song. It's a timeless folk song that still sounds modern. If you are a fan of any style of folk or Americana, it's going to be impossible not to adore New Dangerfield. Kaia Kater says of the band's new single: "I wrote 'Put No Walls Around Your Garden' with Billy Keane, a wonderful songwriter from the Berkshires, during a 2023 retreat at The House of Songs in the Ozark Mountains. We used the allegory of a farmer and their seasonal crop yield as a commentary on resource hoarding and climate change. I brought the song to the band and we arr...

New Dangerfield is a supergroup that takes their name from Dangerfield Newby, one of five recorded black abolitionists that died during John Brown's raid on a federal armory in Harper's Ferry, VA in 1859. The band consists of Jake Blount, Kaia Kater, Tray Wellington, and Nelson Williams who came together to reignite the black string band tradition. Their debut single, "Dangerfield Newby," is a three minute instrumental track that is a completely traditional folk song, but has a fire underneath it that I have never heard in the genre before. This is folk with a rock and roll and even a punk attitude, but played on nice instruments that your grandma would enjoy. It doesn't get more traditional than New Dangerfield, but they still have put out one of the most thrilling folk singles of the year. Tray Wellington says of his new band: “I put together  New Dangerfield  originally to collaborate with other Black artists that I feel are constantly breaking barriers with th...