Burr Settles w/ Matt Hopper

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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Saturday, December 10, 2005

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

Matt Hopper is a modern day Sal Paradise. His mix of psychedelic, folk, rock, and really anything he feels like throwing into the equation come out sounding soothingly familiar and his own. Catch him with or without his band for two completely different sounds. For fans of Tom Petty, Ryan Adams, Richard Buckner.

"Alaska native Matt Hopper has the appeal and talent of a quintessential American singer-songwriter. He writes earnest alt-countrified songs that are pop without being clich--d and delicate without being sappy. -LA Weekly