Jordan Tice w/ Patrick M'Gonigle + Michael Daves & Jacob Jolliff

Jordan Tice w/ Patrick M'Gonigle + Michael Daves & Jacob Jolliff Live at Cafe Wha? | Friday, March 21st| 5PM Doors, 6PM Show

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Jordan Tice is a musical seeker of the most dedicated sort. Growing up in Annapolis Maryland, as a teenage rocker and student of jazz and music composition at Towson University, he has become among the most innovative acoustic guitarists of the modern age. Surrounded by a family of bluegrass musicians and opening for American music luminaries such as David Bromberg and Tony Rice at an early age, Tice found his musical center, one which he now channels into a refreshing approach to songcraft. Speaking to the components that fuel the progressivism intrinsic to some of his closest heroes, Jordan says, “Artists like John Hartford or Norman Blake chose to look beyond the idiomatic elements of the music and tap into where those things came from. They learned from literal examples, but they were working more off abstractions that they absorbed into their own work, creating something entirely new.”

Listening to the breadth of Jordan’s discography, which includes seven projects as a solo artist and four as a founding member of the preeminent string band, Hawktail (formerly Haas Kowert Tice), one will hear these sorts of abstractions at play in his own work. Equally virtuosic as a flatpicker and fingerstylist, and with a casual vocal style, Tice conjures ingredients from seemingly far-flung worlds with ease that have earned him glowing press from such outlets as NPR Music and American Songwriter and taken him to stages such as the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and the Ryman Auditorium (among many many others). His performances call upon the repertories of American and British Isles folk, bluegrass, blues and more pop-oriented songs, and though his earlier releases are instrumental in focus, he has been carefully honing his craft as a singer-songwriter in his most recent work. This includes his Motivational Speakeasy (produced by Kenneth Pattengale of the Milk Carton Kids) and Badlettsville, projects which make it easy to confuse his originals for timeworn chestnuts. Having occupied the roles of guitar ace, sideman, songwriter and student of American music for the better part of his life, Jordan’s songs are enriching for all manner of listeners, from guitar fanatics to more casual fans of Americana music; bending form and tradition through his singular approach, he delivers performances that are not weighted by any one area of his prowess, allowing listeners to join his world of candor, wit and ineffable facility with comfort.

Jordan’s compositions run the gamut from decadent, instrumental ragtime numbers (“Bachelorette Party”), poetic and homespun folk songs in the early-Dylan tradition (“Bad Little Idea”), and well-oiled ensemble pieces that showcase the raucous dance origins of vernacular music (Hawktail’s music). Marrying instrumental precision with the modesty of bedrock music, Hawktail is a convenient centerpiece for displaying the wide range of moods and sounds he can call upon with the help of his distinguished and longstanding collaborators, Brittany Haas and Paul Kowert. Over the last decade, this unit has found themselves across the United States many times, overseas, and in collaboration with acts such as Aoife O’Donovan and Swedish confidantes, Väsen. Though they may cast a wide net when viewed together, all these outlets suggest an impressively unified path of expression, one with a goalpost of integrity and congruence.

As a side musician, Jordan has worked with a great number of disparate artists, including Andrew Marlin (Watchhouse), Steve Martin, Aoife O’Donovan, David Rawlings, Tony Trischka, Väsen, and Yola. While unmistakably himself in these situations, Tice expertly sublimates his familiar touchstones, affording an approach to ensemble playing that is highly uncommon among solo artists, calling to mind such iconoclasts as David Bromberg and Clarence White. Like these figures of previous generations, Jordan can see pathways across genre markers, using the language of his musical upbringing in a way that only suggests the disposition of an earnest fan and lifelong student of music.

On his newest project, Badlettsville, Tice brings together an all-star ensemble of acoustic musicians to realize his take on several of his favorite covers and originals that, while staples of his live show, never made it on to a previous release. The EP begins with his acoustic treatment of Bob Dylan’s, “Tryin’ to Get to Heaven,” featuring impressionistic lyrics flowing over a trancelike backdrop of guitar, fiddle, bass and bongoes. The second track, “Mean Old World,” is an anthemic folk original reflecting on the inevitable change life brings, featuring lush harmonies from Aoife O’Donovan and Andrew Marlin. The collection ends with two duets featuring Hawktail bandmate, bassist Paul Kowert: the jaunty instrumental, “Badlettsville,” and a jazzy, whimsical romp through Randy Newman’s “Dayton, Ohio- 1903.” The seamless combination of covers and originals further cements Tice’s reputation as a bold and inventive voice in folk music with his eye on an earnest prize: generating a body of work that stands up to the test of time.

Michael Daves and Jacob Jolliff are two of America’s premier blue grass talents. After years of collaborating invarious bands and informal settings they have teamed. up as a formidable duo featuring high lonesome vocal harmony and fiery flatpicking. Their sound is an homage to the classic guitar-mandolin “brother duets” while leaving plenty of room for improvisation and inspired left turns. They effortlessly straddle the line between hard- core traditional bluegrass and experimental forms. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Michael Daves grew up playing bluegrass in the grand old tradition of staying up late & singing loud. Although he’s since moved north, the Southern roots permeate his music, however traditional or experimental. Heralded as “a leading light of the New York bluegrass scene” by the New York Times, Daves has garnered attention for his work with Chris Thile, Steve Martin, Tony Trischka, and others in addition to his solo performances. His album “Sleep With One Eye Open” with Thile earned a 2011 Grammy nomination. Although he is best known as a roots musician, Daves gravitated toward experimental music and jazz while studying at Hampshire College in Massachusetts. Relocating to Brooklyn in 2003, he began to crave the social interaction and musical challenges of bluegrass: "In Western Massachusetts, I was mostly doing jazz. By the time I moved to New York, I was ready to leave that behind, get back to my personal roots in bluegrass music. There were good jam sessions in New York and I was excited to reenter a regular jamming culture in the city. And I was getting back into rock music, too. The Brooklyn scene in 2003 and 2004 was pretty fertile. There was a lot of great, kind of raw, experimental rock music happening at that time, drawing me in, scratching an itch." Jacob Jolliff has become one of the country's most notable contemporary mandolinists. He was a member of the beloved New England roots band Joy Kills Sorrow, while attending Berklee School of Music on a full scholarship. In 2012, Jolliff won the National Mandolin Championship in Winfield, KS. Now a fixture of the national bluegrass community, he has collaborated and shared the stage with Darol Anger, Sam Bush, Ronnie McCoury, Jerry Douglas, Tony Trischka, and David Grisman among others. When Joy Kills Sorrow disbanded in 2014, Jolliff got the call to join Yonder Mountain String Band with whom he toured full time through 2019. In 2022 Jolliff released a self-titled Jacob Jolliff Band album and toured with BélaFleck as part of My Bluegrass Heart.

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Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Cafe Wha?, 115 MacDougal Street, New York, United States