The New Folk (Todd Kessler) LIVE at Schubas 8/27/12 ChiIL Live Shows.com
Chi-Town's own Todd Kessler's been making waves on NBC’s The Voice this season as part of Team CeeLo (@TeeamCeeLo)!
Back at the end of August, The New Folk rocked Schubas with their CD release party, as part of a the Monday night residency series, and ChiIL Live Shows has exclusive, unreleased stills and HD videos right here.
Check out our past coverage here.
New Folk celebrated the release of their debut album Sea Fever with an August 2012 “Practice Space Presents:” residency at Schubas, but the story behind The New Folk began in 2005 as Singer/Songwriter Todd Kessler went in to the studio to record his debut album. That album, entitled We Are The MusicMakers, was released in 2006 and with the backing of his original band helped Kessler to make his name and music known in the local Chicago music scene. In 2007 and 2008, in the midst of touring the Midwest, Kessler teamed up with Producer Greg “G-Ball” Magers to record his next two albums, The Veronika EP and Boomerang, only garnering him more praise and recognition on the road and at home.
It was while recording The Veronika EP that The New Folk began to take root with the addition of Bob Parlier on Drums, Sam Smiley on Guitar and Graham Burris on Bass. The quartet began playing out in 2008 in support of Boomerang, still under the name of Todd Kessler, but it was during the next two years and the addition of a String section (Elana Hiller and Chris Bauler), a Horn section (David Ben-Porat and Ben Bell Bern) and a second vocalist (Molly Parlier) that the band began to make waves with their signature Alt-Folk-Pop sound. 2009’s double-single release Golden Bird, along with headlining shows at Schubas, Lincoln Hall, Double Door and Millennium Park, solidified the bands place as a respected group in Chicago, and in 2010, the band began playing shows under the name Todd Kessler and the New Folk.
With over two years, countless shows and a slew of new material, the band, now billed simply as The New Folk, teamed up with producer Manny Sanchez to begin work on their debut album, Sea Fever, in August of 2010. Two years and hundreds of studio hours later later, Sea Fever was released in August under Kessler’s label Wyzguy Records.
ChiIL Live Shows HD Video--Holes in the Floor, The New Folk (Todd Kessler) LIVE at Schubas 8/27/12
*Apologies for missing a bit of the beginnings of some of the tracks. I was originally just going to splice shorter bits in to a video interview, but there have been so many requests for the whole songs I decided to run them intact.
Todd Kessler covers Radiohead's High and Dry & performs his own new track, Intangible, with The New Folk LIVE at Schubas 8/27/12
ChiIL Live Shows HD Video
Listen to Todd between songs, talking about L.A. and his recent foray into national TV. He's on NBC’s The Voice this season on Team CeeLo (@TeeamCeeLo).
Dear Lover, The New Folk LIVE at Schubas 8/27/
ChiIL Live Shows HD Video
We'll have live videos of 3 more live songs from The New Folk coming soon, so check back with ChiIL Live Shows like we vote in Chi, IL...early and often.
Want to hear more Todd Kessler &/or The New Folk? Check out their main site here.
