Crowdfunding Campaigns of the Week: Holiday Adventures Outside the Roots Music World

Some of the most interesting roots music in the last few years has come from artists who either started outside the Americana world (Willie Nile, Aaron Lee Tasjan, John Moreland) or artists who have been shown to have a wide range in their personal listening library (Amanda Shires, Ryan Adams, Chris Stapleton). So, during this lull in new music projects for the summer tour season, it seems like a good time to spend a week featuring three projects that don’t fit under even Americana’s ever growing big tent, but might be of interest to roots music lovers looking for something a little different for a change of pace.

Roots of a Rebellion- New Album
Nashville’s has always been known as a country music town and, in the past few years, increasingly as a rock and roll incubator. But it isn’t really known as a prolific producer of reggae music. But the one reggae band it has launched has launched with a vengeance. For almost a decade, Roots of a Rebellion has been a mainstay of Nashville’s club scene, as well as opening slots for the likes of Trombone Shorty, North Mississippi Allstars, and Rebelution. Now they’re tracking for their latest, as yet untitled, release. Backer rewards include the album on digital or CD, a meet and greet pass to any ROAR show, a digital copy of the band’s live video, and a chance to stay with one of the band members in Nashville for a three day holiday.

L7- New Album
L7 debuted at the height of the grunge movement and quickly got swept into that genre label by a lot of critics. But, at their core, they were always a band that snubbed their noses at genre labels, pulling heavily from metal, alternative, grunge, and punk to create their sound. As often happens with groundbreaking acts, internal discord split the band up in the early 2000s, but they reunited in 2015 with the core lineup of Donita Sparks, Jennifer Finch, Suzi Gardner, Demetra Plakas and are in the process of writing and recording a new album for release in 2019. If the first two songs, “Dispatch from Mar-a-lago” and “I Came Back to Bitch” are any indication, the years haven’t mellowed them lyrically or musically. Backer rewards include the album on CD or vinyl, an L7 film bundle, a signed drumhead, and a vintage vinyl collection of past releases.

Yes Featuring Anderson, Rabin, and Wakeman- Live at the Apollo
Progressive rock in general, isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Neither is a band with dueling touring lineups. Yes, this version being the one that features vocalist Jon Anderson, keyboardist Rick Wakeman, and “Owner of a Lonely Heart” era guitarist Trevor Rabin, fits both of those categories. But if we’re stretching our roots music bounds, we may as well swing for the fences. This live show, recorded at the Manchester Apollo during the band’s UK run, is the first recorded material from this version of Yes and it’s a whopper, filling 2 CD, 3 LP, as well as DVD and Blu Ray. There are no special backer rewards for this one, but you can get combo bundles of all of the above in various iterations.