Lac La Belle - $6

Friday, October 9, 2009

Lac La Belle is an acoustic trio that echoes Country, Western Swing and Old Timey music, but has carved their own space without succumbing to nostalgia or camp. It seems nearly impossible that singer Jennie Knaggs is Michigan-bred, yet has this music in her back pocket like she learned it on the front porch of an Appalachian cottage. On their new full-length release each member brings years of musical experience to bear. The original songs sit comfortably side by side with classics of the genre, which are delivered in an inimitable style.

"(Lac La Belle) play old-school swinging Western, country and backwoods Americana. Comprised of three of Detroit's most talented musicians - multi-instrumentalists and music aficionados Joel Peterson and Nick Schillace and the owner of that sweet and plaintive warble, Jennie Knaggs - Lac La Belle play pitch-perfect originals in synch with the old-timey classics that are also included in their repertoire."- Megan O' Neal Metro Times

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Jennie Knaggs moved to Detroit five years ago and her singular talent has made her a fixture on the city's music scene. Her prodigious voice excels in lost honky-tonk and western swing songs of yesteryear, but is equally convincing in her rock band, I,Crime. She is the 2000 Hollerin' Champion of Wise Co., Virginia and Letcher Co., Kentucky. One day she'll hitch back down there to claim her prizes. Jennie can also be found tickling accordion for Circus Detroit and singing back-up vocals with Odu Afrobeat Orchestra.

Nick Schillace is internationally recognized as a solo instrumentalist who has made a significant contribution to the American Primitive guitar canon with his releases Box Canyon (2005) and Landscape and People (2008.) His other recent group work includes playing tenor guitar in the Odu Afrobeat Orchestra and acoustic string instruments in the experimental/traditional music group, Duo un Duo, with Joel Peterson. He has toured and performed with other finger picking notables, including Jack Rose, Keenan Lawler and Glenn Jones. Lac La Belle finds Nick singing, writing and playing banjo, mandolin and resophonic guitar, while recontextualizing the traditions he grew up with.

Multi-instrumentalist Joel Peterson has spent 15 years performing in some of Detroit's most noted groups, including Immigrant Suns, Scavenger Quartet (with Frank Pahl), Kindred (with Faruq Z. Bey), Odu Afrobeat Orchestra and dozens of others. He's collaborated with or backed-up creative musicians in several genres, including Eugene Chadbourne, Rhys Chatham, Damo Suzuki, Thollem McDonas, Tatsuya Nakatani, Skeeter Shelton, Steve Cohn, Luc Houtkamp, Amy Denio and The Violent Femmes. He ran Bohemian National Home, Detroit's leading music/art space, until late 2008.