Phantom Blues Band - Blues for Breakfast For all his considerable musical talents Taj Mahal has always been shrewd. And smart. In the early 1990s he knew he’d assembled something special in his backing band. He dubbed his secret weapon the Phantom Blues Band. After helping Taj win [...]
Silent Partners - Changing Times As natural as a steady pulse, Silent Partners make their debut on the Little Village label with Changing Times, a 10-song collection of blues that never misses a beat. Members Tony Coleman (drums and vocals), Russell Jackson (bass) and Jonathan Ellison (guitar [...]
Diunna Greenleaf - I Ain't Playin' You might want to put on your hat and slicker, because Houston blues singer Diunna Greenleaf’s I Ain’t Playin’ is about to rain down on you like a gushing Texas oil well. Her new Little Village album (Release date: May 20, 2022) captures [...]
Henry Kaiser & Rome Yamilov - The Lenoir Investigation Rome Yamilov & Henry Kaiser's new release The Lenoir Investigation may well turn out to be the archetypal Little Village (LV) release, a beautiful mélange of brilliant, crosscultural playing grounded in a profound respect for musical tradition seasoned with a diabolically creative dash [...]
Mighty Mike Schermer - Just Gettin' Good The opening title cut of Mighty Mike Schermer’s 8th solo album and Little Village recording debut describes the 55-year-old guitarist/singer/songwriter’s musical journey perfectly. “It ain’t gettin’ old, it’s just gettin’ good!” Recorded throughout the pandemic at Greaseland in San Jose, [...]
Marina Crouse - Canto de mi corazón Vocalist Marina Crouse Celebrates her Chicana Heritage with New Tribute Album to Eydie Gormé El Cerrito, Calif. – Monday, March 28, 2022 – Accepting one’s identity and ethnicity, and in turn, that of others is becoming more embedded in the cultural [...]
DaShawn Hickman w/ Charlie Hunter - Drums, Roots & Steel Little Village Releases DaShawn Hickman’s Debut Album, Putting the Pedal Steel Center-Stage with Hunter on Bass Guitar and Backed by West African Percussionists Atiba Rorie and Brevan Hampden and Vocalist Wendy Hickman Greensboro, North Carolina – Wednesday, March 30, 2022 [...]
Bobby Black - Seventy Years of Swinging Steel! Best-known for gracing the pedal steel chair in Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen, Asleep at the Wheel, and the New Riders of the Purple Sage, Bobby Black is one of the greats at his chosen instrument and [...]
Memphissippi Sounds - Welcome to the Land Two young men playing authentic original blues, the one-chord trance drone chanting form that preceded what most folks think of as the traditional 12 bar/ AAB lyric structures, might seem like a musical anachronism. But when the song’s vocal chant [...]
Nic Clark - Love Your Life / Songs for the Whole Family Not Your Average Children’s Music Nic Clark had a fairly unconventional childhood, which is perhaps one reason why his first album, Love Your Life / Songs for the Whole Family, came out youth-centric. It wasn’t that [...]
Gary Vogensen - Shot of Hope RELEASE DATE: JULY 1st, 2021 It takes enormous talent and skill to be good enough to be on the stage at all—stars are well and good, but without the musicians outside the spotlight, you don’t have much. Gary Vogenson has been one [...]
Aaron Lington - 4 Bari x Bach RELEASE DATE: JUNE 19th, 2021 Aaron Lington's normally busy life as a music professor and Coordinator of Jazz Studies at San Jose State, composer, arranger, session musician and family man slowed down slightly during the pandemic. He utilized the downtime as an excuse to hone his [...]
Tia Carroll - You Gotta Have It! We are so excited to introduce you to the amazing vocals of Bay Area blues singer supreme, Tia Carroll. Tia has been performing steadily with her own band for decades in California, and made some successful recordings before (rock, gospel, [...]
Join us at home for a free virtual show featuring performances from the 20x20 singer/songwriters compilation! Watch on your favorite streaming site as these incredibly talented artists perform their new songs on the legendary Freight and Salvage stage Find where to watch at: https://www.thefreight.org/stream/ or check the Facebook Live Stream Event Page.
"Even the most imaginative numerologist is going to have trouble putting a positive spin on 2020, four digits that will long be associated with COVID-19, quarantine and political turmoil. But a new album seeks to reclaim the infamous figure by showcasing a score of singer-songwriters baring their hearts from home. The latest release by [...]
Tune in November 22nd via www.facebook.com/cantstoptheblues for the memorial benefit and CD release party for the great Ron Thompson, featuring Alabama Mike, Chris Cain, Tommy Castro, Tony Coleman, Franck Goldwasser, Cathy Lemmons, Mike Schermer and Marcel Smith. With Kid Andersen, Scott Griffin, Sid Morris, Gary Rosen & Jim Pugh. Can't Stop The Blues is one [...]
Beset as we are with fire, pandemic, and social and political turmoil, we know that what carries us through is our connection to other people. We also know that music, among other things, makes that bond tangible: Heart and art. The Little Village Foundation, a unique, non-profit record company dedicated to shining a light [...]
Sons of Soul Revivers will be performing as part of "Let The Music Play On", Hardly Strictly Bluegrass’ journey to bring the music we all enjoy in the park to you in your living rooms and backyards. The one-time broadcast will air on October 3, from 2-5pm PT, 5-8pm ET. Tune in to watch [...]
Check out the interview with Jim Pugh in the June 25th, 2020 Issue of Blues Blast Magazine. "There is little doubt that Jim Pugh is one of the elite keyboard players in blues music. His resume and recording discography is a virtual who’s-who of legendary blues artists as well as some top-selling rock musicians. [...]
WORKING FROM HOME TRAILER Just about everyone has been affected by the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. In the music world, no one knows when the box office will open again, and even as many of us return to work in the coming weeks and months, working musicians will continue to [...]
Last week 34 Little Village musicians gathered online to deliver this powerful message: Music Binds Us Together Musicians everywhere have lost their means of making a living due to the pandemic. This loss of performance income has made the sale of artist's recordings more critically important than ever before. Help us [...]
Sporting events, concerts, schools closings, businesses big and small requiring stay at home telecommuting, all are directly affecting our lives. This has had a major impact on Little Village and more specifically it’s artists. For the past week or so there’s been a steady stream of emails coming in canceling concerts and festivals. For [...]
Check out this insightful interview with LVF founder Jim Pugh at Sound and Soul: "Little Village has never actually sold one CD because we don’t own any of the CDs. I give them– and downloads in any format– it’s all owned by the artists. It’s not by the record label. I don’t pay them. [...]
Casey Van Beek and the Tulsa Groove - Heaven Forever Casey Van Beek was born in Holland but raised in Los Angeles from the age of five, and fit right in to the burgeoning local ‘60s rock scene. By his teens he was playing bass [...]
The Mike Duke Project - ... Took a While Acclaimed Musician/Songwriter Mike Duke Unleashes Southern Soul Sounds on First-Ever CD, ...took a while, Due October 11 from Little Village Foundation NICASIO, CA – Singer/keyboardist/songwriter Mike Duke has flourished as an in-demand musician and performer for over 45 years, [...]
PURCHASE AT JUNIOR'S WEB SITE Junior Watson - Nothin' To It But To Do It “I have never heard any guitarist combine the blues with such jazz-tinged playfulness and unpredictability, and with such a seductive fat and greasy tone. Instantly recognizable and 100% original. There is no [...]
We are proud to announce the second annual Arhoolie Awards and Benefit Concert, to be held November 22nd at San Francisco’s The Chapel. Proceeds from the event will go to support the Awards program and help further the mission of the Arhoolie Foundation. This year's award recipients - who each receive $10,000 to support their [...]
MIKE DUKE PLAYS RANCHO NICASIO ON SEPTEMBER 29th! VISIT RANCHO NICASIO WEBSITE FOR INFO Hit songwriter for Huey Lewis finally has an album of his own, after 40 years West Marin singer-songwriter Mike Duke wrote some of the biggest hits of the 1980s for Huey Lewis and the News. He’s spent most [...]
Date And Time Thu, October 3, 2019 6:00 PM – 8:30 PM PDT Description: It's Really Simple Free Food Free Drink Free Music Performances By: Aireene Espiritu Aki Kumar Marina Crouse Maurice Tani and special guests All in support of Little Village Foundation JOIN US! (RSVP For Address) ATTEND
Little Village Foundation Announces Five New Albums Featuring Empowered Multi-Generational Voices of The West Coast’s Foremost Women Artists - Out August 17, 2019 Betty Reid Soskin: A Lifetime of Being Betty (Chosen as one of Glamour Magazine’s “Women of the Year 2018”) Skip The Needle: We Ain’t Never Going Back (Featuring Vicki Randle, Percussionist/Vocalist of The [...]
It's Simple. Sunday, September 8, 2019 from 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM Free Food. Free Drinks. Free Music. Stunning Vista Sunset. Junior Watson. (OC) Sean Wheeler. (PS) Whitney Shay. (SD) Igor Prado. (Ipanema) Attend Event
Skip the Needle to bring its joyful funk metal to debut album release show Vicki Randle was no fresh-faced ingenue when she joined Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Mavis Staples as a percussionist and backup singer in 2010. Well-established as a top-shelf Los Angeles studio musician with dozens of albums and major tours to [...]
AUGUST 17, 2019 FREIGHT & SALVAGE 2020 ADDISTON STREET BERKELEY, CA BUY TICKETS ARTISTS PERFORMING: Mary Flower Guitarist, singer and songwriter Mary Flower is that rare breed of American roots artist. Her devotion to the art form is both lovingly and historically accurate, yet her creativity lends it vitality and energy that it might [...]
Congratulations to these nominees that are part of the growing Little Village Foundation family: And to those who lent their support:
New album 'This Is It!' is here. Official release date 2/7 at the scene of the crime: Freight & Salvage. Pre-release copies available at mauricetani .com READ MORE BUY TICKETS
Little Village Foundation Benefit Show featuring Kevin Burt, Mariachi Mestizo (small ensemble), Marina Crouse, Maurice Tani, Sean Wheeler, The Sons of the Soul Revivers w/Marcel Smith, Raise Your Voice - The Sound of Student Protest Thu, February 7, 2019 Doors: 7:00 PM / Show: 8:00 PM Freight & Salvage Berkeley, CA This event is [...]
I’d been at Kenney’s house the day before. Back then we had lived near each other out in The Richmond. He knew a secretary at Warner’s that would send him new releases every month. Like clock work. Kinda pissed me off but we would sit and listen to some stuff while we talked and drank [...]
As the major record label system continues to evolve, different sounds and different artists have become more marginalized than ever before, thanks to the never ending search for the quickest, easiest hit record possible. Songs get more and more formulaic and homogeneous sounding and artists are cast aside quickly, easily disposable in a world where [...]
MAKE A DONATION TO THE RAISE YOUR VOICE PROJECT The courage and moral clarity shown by the student survivors of the recent mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida struck an immediate emotional chord with the American public, bringing home the reality of [...]
We’re very excited to share this huge musical talent to the world with this much-anticipated, stunning debut recording from Kevin Burt - HEARTLAND & SOUL out October 29th on Little Village Foundation Records! The Iowa based Burt’s vocals are absolutely amazing – extremely powerful, rich, warm, expressive and exploding with SOUL!! Another killer sounding album [...]
After a group of students from Parkland, Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School crisscrossed the nation this summer on their "Road to Change" tour, they will now lift their voices before the November midterm elections on an inspiring collection of songs titled Raise Your Voice: The Sound of Student Protest. The 11-track album, due Oct. [...]
MAKE A DONATION TO THE RAISE YOUR VOICE PROJECT The courage and moral clarity shown by the student survivors of the recent mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida struck an immediate emotional chord with the American public, bringing home the reality [...]
Jim Pugh has built a small musical empire by reversing the music industry’s foundational rules. Rather than extracting value from recordings by hoarding rights to the music, Pugh’s nonprofit Little Village Foundation label serves as a musical freeway, with artists retaining their intellectual property and proceeds from CD sales. In just two years, Little Village [...]
Little Village Foundation Releases Eclectic Series of Seven New Recordings Featuring California’s Foremost Underground Artists "Nonprofit helps worthy California musicians get wide attention.” -San Francisco Chronicle “[Little Village] label boasts some of the best musicians you’ve never heard of.” -San Jose Mercury News Now in its third year of nationally releasing critically-acclaimed recordings [...]
On August 1st, Little Village Foundation will celebrate the release of 7 new LVR releases at the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley, CA with a Summer Showcase performance featuring LVF artists Ada Pasternak, Aki Kumar, Marcel Smith, Marina Crouse, Mariachi Mestizo, Maurice Tani, Whitney Shay. Six singers and a Mariachi! Doors open at 6:00 and [...]
The eclectic nonprofit record label Little Village Foundation, which exists to shine a light on underground artists in and near California, has found its voice. From a young age, Marcel Smith’s dynamic vocals—transitioning from smooth, tender and soulful to raw and feverishly uplifting in short order—have electrified churchgoers for years with undeniable conviction and passion. [...]
Congratulations to all these people who have recorded/produced or performed with LVF for their 2018 Blues Music Award Nominations! Wee Willie Walker The Paul deLay Band June Core Tony Braunagel Chris Cain Christoffer “Kid” Andersen Rick Estrin Nancy Wright Jim Pugh Curtis Salgado
On January 19th, 2018 Little Village Foundation Artists gathered at the Freight and Salvage in Berkeley, CA featuring Aireene Espiritu (Aireene Espiritu & The Itch), Aki Kumar, Chris Cain, Howell Devine, Maurice Tani (Maurice Tani & 77 El Deora), The Sons of The Soul Revivers, and Xóchitl Morales. Watch the video here:
The Desert Sun Bruce Fessier Wheeler has led more than a dozen bands over 36 years, playing hybrid genres he’s invented, such as “political sleng teng,” “proto-emo jangle rock” and “glam-inspired punk pop.” He might have set the precedent for desert rockers such as Josh Homme and Brant Bjork to feel it’s more important to [...]
I’d agreed to do it when he called and asked. Sure I was honored- our friend Mark Richardson was to be installed as President and Dean of The Church Divinity School of The Pacific (CDSP) in Berkeley and had been asked me to play at the service. In over 40 years of playing piano professionally [...]
Music reviewers have had a delicious time with the name of this Bay Area-based blues trio ever since their first record came out in 2012. Their “divine howl” is official now with the Oct. 13 release of HOWL, their fourth album and debut release on renowned musician Jim Pugh’s new label, Little Village Foundation. "These [...]
Check out the latest video from Sean Wheeler for a track off of the album 'Sand In My Blood'.
There is a great feature on Xochitl Morales on the California Report. "Seventeen-year-old Xochitl Morales has been surrounded by music since she was in the womb. “It’s eat, breathe, sleep mariachi,” she says, as she points out trophies and event posters in her family’s music studio. On the California mariachi scene, everybody knows the Morales family of [...]
Little Village Foundation was featured in The San Francisco Chronicle today! "Listening to the radio as he drove home that night to Santa Ynez (Santa Barbara County), Pugh heard a classic ’50s Frank Sinatra orchestral track recorded at Capitol Records in Hollywood, where Pugh decided on the spot to record the young mariachis because he [...]
Featuring Bay Area, Coachella Valley and Central Valley Artists, Bringing Backroads Music from the Fringes to the Masses Santa Ynez, CA – Thursday, April 20, 2017 – Every year, thousands of North American artists release new music vying for the spotlight, trying to break through the noise to get heard and build their fanbase. Through [...]
17-year-old Central Valley high school student Xóchitl Morales is a rising voice amongst the California spoken word scene after her poetry went viral with Buzzfeed’s Pero Like Facebook page spotlighting her piece “Latin-Americans: The Children with a Dark Past.” A member of the Los Angeles “Get Lit” slam poetry group, Xóchitl has performed for California [...]
Little Village Foundation Musicians appeared at the annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in Golden Gate Park.
Check out the feature on Jim Pugh and the Little Village Foundation in SF GATE: "Jim Pugh, the veteran keyboard player who toured the world with Etta James and Robert Cray and now roams the Central Valley and Bay Area byways looking for unknown musicians to savor and record, first heard the Filipino American singer [...]
What We Do We bring music from next door to the world. Strawberry pickers in California who hail from a village in Mexico where the clouds touch the earth. A lightning-fast roadhouse guitarist who exemplifies Oakland biker mayhem. An old hand with horses who sings cowboy songs with true depth. A hard-working retired machinist with [...]
Paul Liberatore, Marin Independent Journal Thursday, March 2, 2017 For those of us who don’t get to hear traditional gospel quartets very often, if ever, the fact that the Sons of the Soul Revivers are breaking out of the four walls of the church to perform for secular audiences is something of a musical blessing. [...]
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Lil Easy Backyard Party Sunday September 18, 2016
2016 Living Blues Awards Wee Willie Walker wins Comeback of the Year and Best Blues / Southern Soul Album Awards! Critics’ Poll Blues Artist of the Year (Male) Buddy Guy Blues Artist of the Year (Female) Shemekia Copeland Most Outstanding Blues Singer Otis Clay Most Outstanding Musician (Guitar) Lurrie Bell Most Outstanding Musician (Harmonica) Sugar [...]
I wanted to be bigger than Bill Gates — but I fell in love with the blues Credit: Ola Carlvik This story is based on a radio interview. Listen to the full interview. DOWNLOAD HERE Aki Kumar moved to Silicon Valley at the age of 18. His goal, like many others, was to be a [...]
Aireene Espiritu Jim Pugh, the veteran keyboard player who toured the world with Etta James and Robert Cray and now roams the Central Valley and Bay Area byways looking for unknown musicians to savor and record, first heard the Filipino American singer Aireene Espiritu a few years ago at the Folk Alliance conclave [...]
Check out a video of Mariachi Mestizo recording at Capitol Studios in Hollywood, CA. En las noches de sábado, todo lo que necesitamos es el traje de charro para sentir cuan arraigadas están en nuestras venas los guacos de mi padre y las tonadas de mi abuela. El guitarrón y el arpa, la [...]
2016 Release Artists in a benefit concert for Little Village Foundation at Freight & Salvage.
Check out this interview with John Blues Boyd!
Check out this video of Aireene Espiritu performing Down By The Riverside.
Watch a video of Mariachi Mestizo from March 2016.
Mariachi Mestizo From Delano, Ca. If you live in California you drive a lot. I drive a lot. On a noticeably warm Sunday afternoon this past fall I pointed the car inland towards Visalia, driving up 101 past Templeton, over the hill at Paso Robles and then right at Fresno down to Visalia. Woodlake actually. You probably haven’t [...]
Wee Willie Walker Nominated 3x For The Blues Music Awards!!! The Blues Foundation Mission To preserve blues heritage, celebrate blues recording and performance, expand worldwide awareness of the blues, and ensure the future of this uniquely American art form December 2015 Newsletter The Blues Foundation Announces 2016 Blues Music Awards Nominees Acoustic Album Doug MacLeod [...]
Wee Willie Walker and Curtis Salgado reprising their epiphanic version of The Beatles, HELP! at Little Village Foundation segment of The Waterfront Blues Festival 7.5.2015
In Santa Maria last Friday I heard Mixtec spoken for the first time. Esperanza Salazar translated from Mixtec into English and replica swiss. It was an amazing evening of music and conversation.
Here’s an article from The Santa Maria Sun by Camillia Lanham that’s about The Mixteco living in Santa Maria. Their music is one of the things Little Village is seeking to document. Truly a fascinating read. Cover Story Immigrants from the La Mixteca region of Mexico face more than just the U.S./Mexico border as a [...]