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Born the son of a big band musician, Kevin Meisel grew up with the sound and spirit of music around him. Raised in Detroit, and traveling around the states, he listened to the streets, hearing the stories of those around him with an ear for empathy, translation and narrative.His first artistic love was painting, which took him to live in New York City where in the dank summer and autumn nights he would slip into the subways to play his guitar and sing to the commuters. His first gigs were there, underground. Eventually, painting was replaced with songwriting, and moving back to Michigan, Kevin gravitated to the thriving music scene in Ann Arbor, forming acoustic and electric bands with his brother Keith. There, he began to forge his artistic identity as a songwriter, playing gigs at the Gypsy Cafe, the Blind Pig, and the prestigious acoustic venue, The Ark.
His first recordings, bare and acoustic, received airplay and earned him the encouragement needed to embark on his first full length album, Coal and Diamonds, a record rich and developed in the narrative folk tradition. Thereafter, Meisel signed with the Swiss label Brambus Records and recorded the compelling Country Lines, a valentine to America and its conflictual history. In 2007, Meisel released his third album, Cruising For Paradise. Produced by his longtime guitarist, Alex Anest, the record is lively and upbeat, featuring some of the most accessible and melodic music in Meisel’s oeuvre. 2011 saw the release of his fourth album, the evocotive Black Orchard Songs, an album rich with elusive narrative and understated adornment. With successful tours of Switzerland, Germany and Austria, Meisel has earned a loyal following in Europe, where he returns in 2011 in support of Black Orchard Songs.
Kevin’s themes are truly archetypal; he writes from the arena of the human spirit, seeming to chronicle its wanderings toward deceptions and truth. His approach, always honest and unbiased, makes him accessible and trustworthy as an artist with a vision.
Alex Anest is a guitarist, teacher, and bandleader currently based in Southeast Michigan.
His projects as a leader or co-leader have included The Alex Anest Organ Trio/Electric Four, Nomad, The Ann Arbor Guitar Trio, and Giraffe, among others. These groups focus on improvisation, groove, creativity, and most of all a commitment to connection, both among the group members and with the audience.
He has released fourteen recordings as leader or co-leader and has appeared on another twenty-five records by a staggering variety of other artists including Gayelynn McKinney, Evan Veasey, Makadem, Nancy Ambrose King, Kevin Meisel, and Dave Sharp. Music has taken Alex around the midwest, south, and northeast of the U.S. as well as to Switzerland, Austria, Germany and Italy.
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38840 6 Mile Rd, Livonia, MI, United States, Michigan 48152
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Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.