Nation Beat - Growing Stone [CD]

From Forró to Funk; Maracatu to Swamp Rock! Nation Beat019s new release 01CGrowing Stone01D is an album from two Americas, a 21st century mash-up inspired by Brazilian maracatu drumming, New Orleans second line rhythms, Appalachian music, funk and country-blues. Nation Beat plays the best kind of fusion in the world, the kind that doesn't try to fuse anything. An American/Brazilian collective, Nation Beat belongs to both sides of the equator. There is probably no better metaphor than an enthusiastic Willie Nelson calling himself "overwhelmed" upon hearing Nation Beat for the first time. So overwhelmed in fact, that he invited the band to perform with him at Farm Aid - about as literal a celebration of American roots as it gets... In many ways, Nation Beat's new album, Growing Stone, is a result of that encounter. It is an album about true roots, about the American south and its Northeastern Brazilian parallels - and not coincidentally, it is dedicated to the American farmer. "I had an epiphany while I was living in Recife" says drummer and band leader Scott Kettner "I realized that there were many similarities with the music I grew up hearing from the deep American south with the music I was studying every day". On the recommendation of his teacher Billy Hart, Scott spent a few years in Recife, immersed in Northeastern Brazilian music, and learned to recognize similarities between the two cultures. "I started exploring the common threads between Mardi Gras Indians and coco, maracatu and Second Line, forró with Cajun and zydeco and many more." Nation Beat is Scott Kettner and Liliana Araujo featuring Mark Marshall, Jordan Scannella, Dennis Lightman, Skye Steel, Mike Lavalle, Raphael, Petr Cancura, Brian Drye and Eduardo Guedes and special guests Mikey Raphael, Cyro Baptista, David Greeley, Aaron Shafer-Haiss, Jeff Dunneman, Jesse Lenat and Joao Erbetta.