Ritt Deitz w/ Burr Settles

Art in the cafe...

Laurel Statz


"The Spectator"


December 2025



Laurel Statz is a painter and Madison area native. Her work, while figurative, is influenced by abstraction and minimalism. The paintings often have a quick and instinctual nature, capturing just what’s needed. While she often times herself to eliminate extra details and over-precision, she has ventured into more detailed works as well. Laurel does not attach narrative to her pieces. Rather, she thinks of them like a journaling process for her scatter-brained psyche. The figures in the pieces are meant to be processing tools for the artist and the viewer. She hopes that seeing these figures helps the...
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Friday, November 17, 2006

Ritt's songs are rough and smooth at the same time, acoustic roots rock with just enough mountain music in it to remind you he is from Kentucky. He is joined by his trio, musicians he has played, recorded, and consorted with over the last fifteen years.

The Onion says, "He works the same side of the street as Greg Brown and Bruce Cockburn, with songs that are concurrently earthy, etheral, and intelligent."

Burr Settles calls Madison home these days, but he cut his teeth at the folk and bluegrass jam sessions in front of the Woodland Avenue fire station in his hometown of Lexington, Kentucky. Still, a wide array of influences from Beck to The Lemonheads and even They Might Be Giants has contributed to his own quirky style of folk and pop. For this special Mother Fool's performance, he will be appearing with a small folk-rock orchestra replete cello and trumpet. Rumor has it a set of holiday songs will also be involved.

"Burr Settles is one of those lucky folkies who, in the spirit of artists like Keller Williams, Jack Johnson or even early Beck, has granted himself the liberty to play whatever style he wants, whenever he wants... He has the songwriting chops to back up this genre hopping, too." -CoreWeekly

"Intelligent folk-pop... beat-inflected workouts, and introspective acoustic numbers." -The Onion AV Club