Fresh off their debut performance at SF Jazz’s “Americana Roots Week,” ISMAY announces additional Bay Area and Northern California shows, a new single, and a video. Recently featured as one of a select group of artists from around the world participating in the Apple TV+ Show My Kind of Country, produced by Kacey Musgraves and Reese Witherspoon, ISMAY is enjoying newfound fame and an expanding fanbase.
“Stranger in the Barn,” the new single from ISMAY’s forthcoming album will be available on May 2 on all streaming platforms. The accompanying video will be released on May 16. The track is a collaboration with prolific folk/Americana multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and producer Andrew Marlin of Watchhouse (formerly Mandolin Orange) recorded at Echo Mountain Recording Studios in Asheville NC. ISMAY will share the stage with Misner & Smith in Davis on May 5 and Santa Rosa on May 6, and with Sunny War in San Francisco on May 26, in support of the new single. See further show details below.
There’s music you hear and there’s music you see, the best kind achieves both. ISMAY creates intimate folk/Americana songs that transport you straight to the land where they were written - deeply rooted in the heart of Sonoma Mountain. Melding the experience of taming wild horses, escaping wildfires, and birthing lambs with warm guitars and delicately graceful vocals, it is an original soundscape that is a delight to the ears as well as the imagination.
Driven by singer/songwriter Avery Hellman (they/them or she/her), ISMAY released their debut full-length album Songs Of Sonoma Mountain in 2020, to widespread acclaim. It was named one of the 10 Best Albums in the Bay Area by KQED Arts and garnered features in American Songwriter, No Depression, Sonoma Magazine, and more. Blending field recordings and intricate melodies with live, guitar-based inventive composition, it is a proper introduction to the old-world charm of ISMAY.
Hellman’s musical talent is no surprise, growing up backstage at their grandfather Warren Hellman’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, where they were inspired early on by artists such as Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch, and Hazel Dickens. Since then, ISMAY has appeared throughout the West Coast at music festivals such as Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Strawberry Music Festival, The National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, The Lantern Tour, and at renowned venues such as the Great American Music Hall, Slim’s, the Golden State Theater, and the Mystic Theater. They have opened for acclaimed artists including Steve Earle, Watchhouse (fka Mandolin Orange), Justin Townes Earle, Robert Earl Keen, John Doe, and Chuck Prophet.
What: ISMAY / Misner & Smith @ The Melon Ball
Where: Watermelon Music, 1970 Lake Blvd, Suite 1, Davis, 95616
When: Friday, May 5; Doors 7:30 p.m.; Music 8 p.m.
Who: ISMAY
Misner & Smith
Tix & info: $20; watermelonmusic.com, (530) 758 4010
What: ISMAY / Misner & Smith @ The Lost Church
When: Saturday, May 6; Doors 7:30 p.m.; Music 8:15-10:30 p.m.
Where: The Lost Church, 427 Mendocino Ave, Santa Rosa, CA 95401
Who: Misner & Smith
ISMAY
Tix & info: $20; thelostchurch.com
What: Sunny War / ISMAY / Elizabeth Lubin @ Bottom of the Hill
When: Friday, May 26; Doors 8 p.m.; Music 8:30 p.m.
Where: Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th Street (17th @ Missouri), San Francisco, CA 94107
Who: Sunny War
ISMAY
Elizabeth Lubin
Tix & info: $15; bottomofthehill.com, 415-626-4455, email@bottomofthehill.com
About “Stranger in the Barn”
“Stranger in the Barn” is based on Avery's real experience at their family's ranch. The story is about taking down our walls and offering curiosity rather than meeting the unknown with contempt and anger. Ismay collaborated with prolific Folk/Americana multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and producer Andrew Marlin of Watchhouse (formerly Mandolin Orange) at Echo Mountain Recording Studios in Asheville NC. The song features Jamie Dick on drums (Allison Russell, Rhiannon Giddens), Clint Mullican on bass (Watchhouse/Mandolin Orange), and Andrew Allen-Fahlander (T Sisters) on guitar. and was engineered by Grammy award-winning Julian Dreyer (Steep Canyon Rangers, Rising Appalachia).
Highlights:
● "It is so exciting to see ISMAY perform...ISMAY has an incredible future." - Orville Peck
● ISMAY is featured in Reese Witherspoon and Kacey Musgraves' My County of Country on AppleTV+
● "Every song weaved around the sights, sounds, and feel of the surrounding land and guided gently by ISMAY’s meticulous
guitar and delicately captivating vocals." -American Songwriter
● Debut album Songs Of Sonoma Mountain was named one of the 10 best Albums in the Bay Area in 2020 and garnered
features in American Songwriter, No Depression, Sonoma Magazine, and more.
● Working on their sophomore album with esteemed Folk/Americana multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and producer
Andrew Marlin of Watchouse.
● Opened for acclaimed artists including Steve Earle, Watchhouse, Justin Townes Earle, Robert Earl Keen, John Doe, and
Chuck Prophet.
• Performed at music festivals such as Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Strawberry Music Festival, The National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, and The Lantern Tour, and at renowned venues such as the Great American Music Hall, Slim’s, the Golden State Theater, and the Mystic Theater.
