New Green Roster Band: Ben Cosgrove

We are really excited to announce a very accomplished musician and environmentalist to the Green Roster. Ben Cosgrove is a talented instrumentalist inspired by landscapes and place. Nature is clearly situated in his classical-folk crossover music. "By focusing single-mindedly on place/landscape/environment in my music, I hope to actively work against that human tendency to ignore the things around us." Isn't he the best!? What's more, is that he's held artist residencies at public lands across the US! Learn more about his eco-experience here.

Give him a listen and look out for his next show on his website: www.bencosgrove.com

New Green Roster Band: Jake Klar

Sustain is pleased to announce that Jake Klar has joined the Green Roster! Not only does he make great gritty, indie-Americana rock & roll, Klar also cares about doing the right thing for the environment. Check him out and listen to his music at: www.jakeklar.com

(Secret: Sustain's co-founders contributed to Jake's Crescent St. Blues EP! Harrison played bass and Betsy made dinners to feed the crew! Go listen!)

As part of the Green Roster program re-launch, we're now giving all members their own page on our website, highlighting their environmental accomplishments. Check out Jake's, and learn more about him HERE.

New Green Roster Band: The Gage Brothers

Another new member for Green Roster! This time it's the Gage Brothers, out of Akron, OH. These guys play some great music- mixing traditional and new age styles into a unique folk and blues sound. Give them a listen HERE.

When they're not performing, you might catch them hiking around Cuyahoga National Park- it's their favorite. They're also planning to recycle/upcycle all of their spent strings this year! Learn more about The Gage Brothers on their website above, and on our page highlighting their environmental endeavors.

Green Roster Program Relaunch

It's been a little over a year since the idea for Sustain was born. In that time we have come a long way, and we're still learning! Our Green Roster program is something we've been giving a lot of thought- how could we better foster environmental practices in the music industry? How could we create a stronger community for the bands, luthiers, and studios who care about their impact on the environment? Just what exactly can the music industry do to be greener? What are people already doing, and what else could they be doing? Sustain and our original Green Roster members have been working on these questions this past year. We've been doing research, going to conferences like Folk Alliance, and talking to experts. And now we are ready to share!
It is with great excitement that we announce the relaunch of Green Roster. We have a slew of new members that we will be announcing throughout the coming week. Some of the key program updates include:

• More robust requirements for members- including annual green goal setting, measuring accomplishments, and public outreach/education requirements
• Resource pages tailored to bands, studios, and luthiers on how they can further green their business, materials, and habits
• A tiered membership system for bands which encourages growth and participation for smaller bands, while rewarding more advanced bands who have the resources to meet stricter environmental standards
• Member-to-member discounts
• Community knowledge sharing
• A quarterly newsletter highlighting member activities
• Plans for increasing the visibility of the Green Roster program to the greater public, as Sustain gains momentum and audiences
• Green Roster membership stamp trademark in progress
• Individual member webpages highlighting their business and their environmental accomplishments

The Green Roster program is still committed to promoting environmental responsibility and awareness in the music industry, but now with this program relaunch, it will be able to do so more effectively.
 

Katahdin Woods & Waters Releases Video Featuring KTAADN

Katahdin Woods & Waters has just released a video featuring beautiful footage of the landscape that might become the next National Parks unit. As part of the Songscape project, public land hosts get to use the band's song in their marketing materials. I'd say Parsonsfield's song, KTAADN, fits the landscape perfectly.  Check it out!

North Woods Monument video shows the tremendously beautiful natural resources and exceptional recreational opportunities. The hope is that viewers will be inspired to come visit and advocate for a designation as a National Park Unit in 2016, the 100th anniversary of of the Park Servce.

Announcing Songscape: Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge with River Whyless

Today, 113 years ago, Theodore Roosevelt established the first National Wildlife Refuge at Pelican Island. Back in 1903, pelicans, herons, egrets and other birds were in danger of extinction as market hunters killed them in great numbers to supply the feather industry for women's fashionable hats. T.R. created Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge to protect these birds, and it was the first time the federal government had set aside land specifically for wildlife.

Today there are over 560 National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs), all working to protect the biological integrity and environmental health of wildlife, fish, and plants of the habitats they encompass. NWRs protect over 700 species of birds, 220 species of mammals, 250 species of reptiles and amphibians, and over 1,000 species of fish. While National Wildlife Refuges are less well known than the National Parks and National Forests, they have a key role in protecting our biological diversity and natural resources.

Sustain is honored to announce that we have partnered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to host a Songscape at Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge in Wyoming. Sustain is also honored to announce that River Whyless, an innovative folk band from Asheville, N.C., will be participating in this Songscape.

River Whyless is a great match for the Songscape program. Sustain's co-founder, Betsy Mortensen, was drawn to their music because of the detailed and intimate way their songs cover the natural world. As a wildlife biologist, she appreciated the way the band spoke about nature in a way that was beyond cliché or false romanticism. Not only are they great at writing lyrics, their music is superb, and well received by the likes of NPR and Paste Magazine. Their latest release, River Whyless, came out last summer. "River Whyless puts a hauntingly sweet spin on traditional foundations. Their newest EP is full of lush harmonies, wide sweeping arrangements that are driven by dark percussion, putting them in a category similar to contemporaries Fleet Foxes and Stornaway." Sustain is very excited to work with River Whyless and to see how Seedskadee NWR inspires their Songscape songwriting.

Sage Grouse- Photo by Tom Koerner.

Seedskadee NWR certainly has plenty to offer for inspiration. It's located in the remote southwest corner of Wyoming, with the Green River running through its heart. It's a great example of the sagebrush steppe ecosystem, which has been under duress elsewhere due to natural gas development and poor grazing practices. One of the key species at the NWR, the Greater Sage Grouse, just narrowly missed being listed as an Endangered Species last autumn. If you're lucky, you can still see the chicken-like big bird at Seedskadee. In fact, Seedskadee takes its name from the Shoshone word sisk-a-dee-agie, which means River of the Prairie Hen. Besides Sage Grouse, Seedskadee is full of Trumpeter Swans, Sandhill Cranes, and owls and ducks of all sorts. Moose, Pronghorn Antelope, Bobcats, and even River Otters can be found at Seedskadee too. Tom Koerner, Project Leader for Seedskadee and Cokeville Meadows NWR, not only runs things at the NWR, but also takes incredible photos of the wildlife and landscapes at Seedskadee. Check out his photography here.

Lightning at Seedskadee NWR- Photo by Tom Koerner

Coyote- Photo by Tom Koerner

Last summer, Sustain's Co-Founders and board member, Nicole Reese, had the fortune of visiting Seedskadee NWR. It. Is. Beautiful. Tom took us out to see Sage Grouse feeding on sage at dusk, while Great Horned Owls flew alongside us, and Sandhill Cranes cackled from out in the marshes. He also showed us where the Mormon Trail ran a ferry across the Green River, and where the wagon ruts of the Oregon Trail pioneers are still carved into the land. The sky is wide open and lends itself well to dramatic sunrises and sunsets, and dark nights full of stars. The sagebrush steppe ecosystem may not get the attention that forests or sculptural sandstone deserts attract, but it is a special landscape. We're excited to share Seedskadee NWR with River Whyless, and our audiences. 

Harrison, VP of Sustain, and Nicole, Secretary, enjoy dusk at Seedskadee NWR last summer.

KTAADN Music Video Release

We gave you a peek at Parsonsfield performing in a canoe a few weeks ago, but today you can see the KTAADN music video in its entirety! The latest Songscape song is even more meaningful when you can see the experiences and landscape that inspired Parsonsfield during the Songscape: Katahdin Woods & Waters Recreation Area retreat. Check out this music video to see the band in action in the woods and waters that might become America's next national park.

Additionally, please do consider purchasing the song HERE, as proceeds will help us bring you more Songscapes in the future!

This song, KTAADN, and its music video, are the product of Sustain's Songscape program. Songscapes partner bands with public land organizations for a week of outdoors-inspired songwriting. The band creates a song influenced by their experiences and the landscape, and donates it to their host land group.

Songscape: Katahdin Woods & Waters Recreation Area- SONG RELEASE DAY!

Less than a year after our founding, Sustain’s first Songscape song is officially released! You can now purchase ‘KTAADN’, by folk-rock band Parsonsfield, at their website HERE.

KTAADN is the product of Songscape: Katahdin Woods & Waters Recreation Area. Songscapes are Sustain’s songwriting retreats, where we partner bands with public land organizations. Through the hospitality of host land groups, we send bands out for a few days of immersion in protected landscapes. The musicians use this time to write a song inspired by their experiences and their environment. This song is then donated to the host land group, and used to inspire and encourage audiences to value these landscapes.

In our first Songscape project, we partnered folk-rock band Parsonsfield, with Katahdin Woods & Waters Recreation Area in Maine.  Parsonsfield, formed in Connecticut in 2010, has played their rowdy Americana folk music across the USA and throughout Canada. David Vescey, from The New York Times writes, “They harmonize; they play saws, mandolins and pump organs; they back their songs with crickets and squeaking screen doors; they are boisterously youthful yet deftly sentimental...”. Theirs is a sound that has its roots in Maine as well. The name, Parsonsfield, comes from the rural town in southwest Maine where they recorded their first album. Those crickets and squeaking screen doors were courtesy of the old farmhouse recording studio there, called Great North Sound Society. Parsonsfield was very excited to pilot the Songscape program, and spend a week in Maine exploring Katahdin Woods & Waters Recreation Area (KWWRA).

Located in the shadows of Mount Katahdin, Maine’s highest and most storied peak, Katahdin Woods & Waters Recreation Area offers a sneak peak of land that one day could become a new national park and national recreation area. The land, bordered on the west by Baxter State Park and with the amazing East Branch of the Penobscot River running through its heart, includes unparalleled opportunities for traditional outdoor recreation and an opportunity to see firsthand the woods and waters that have helped to define the state. It is KWWRA’s hope that the Katahdin region, and KWWRA specifically, will gain public support to become America’s next national park and recreation area. This unique and beautiful landscape has such a rich history and ecology, and it deserves to be shared with the nation.

For our Songscape: Katahdin Woods and Waters Recreation Area project, Parsonsfield spent a week at KWWRA, at off-the-grid Lunksoos Camps on the banks of the East Brach of the Penobscot River. The first night, local KWWRA supporters welcomed Parsonsfield with a feast and bonfire- a friendly welcome that set the tone for the rest of the retreat. The band hiked Barnard Mountain and saw the Katahdin landscape cloaked in fiery autumn foliage. They went looking (and calling!) for moose. They saw glowing sunsets, and canoed in the same waters that Henry David Thoreau paddled. Parsonsfield had a wealth of experiences and beauty to draw from while writing and composing their Songscape song, KTAADN.

On the band’s final day at KWWRA, we filmed a music video of KTAADN, with the whole band playing in a canoe. This video will be available on Sustain's Youtube channel next week. Parsonsfield has also been performing the song on dry land, at shows across the northeast.

After the retreat, Sustain arranged for Parsonsfield to record their Songscape song at Dirt Floor, a recording studio in Haddam, CT. Dirt Floor, run by Eric Lichter, is one of the original members of Sustain's Green Roster program. Green Roster is a community of bands, luthiers and recording studios which pledge to uphold environmental practices in their businesses. Dirt Floor has been a great supporter of Sustain and generously donated a free recording session for this project. Another Green Roster band member, Greg Dyson of Hanging Hills, donated his graphic arts skills in designing the KTAADN album cover. Sustain is very grateful for everyone's support.

All of this work has culminated in today's release of KTAADN. Parsonsfield has donated the song to Katahdin Woods & Waters Recreation Area to use in their marketing materials, and has made the song available to anyone who would like to purchase it on their website. The proceeds of the song sales will help support Sustain, KWWRA and the band, so we can continue to bring you great music, a great landscape, and future Songscape projects.

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Sustain would like to especially thank the following people for supporting Songscape: Katahdin Woods & Waters Recreation Area and taking a chance on our new organization and our pilot project. Lucas St. Clair (president of Elliotsville Plantation, which founded KWWRA), Susan and Mark Adams (KWWRA Ambassadors & Hosts), Simon Roosevelt, the members of Parsonsfield (Antonio Alcorn, Chris Freeman, Harrison Goodale, Erik Hischman and Max Shakun), Eric Lichter, Greg Dyson, and the Board of Sustain Music and Nature (Ricky Hernandez, Maggie Comstock, Nicole Reese, Aubrey Gallegos, Harrison Goodale and Betsy Mortensen).

Songscape: KWWRA Song Release on Feb. 2

Guess what! You'll be able to listen to and purchase the very first Songscape song, KTAADN, on February 2nd!

The Songscape was held this past October in Maine at Katahdin Woods & Waters Recreation Area with Americana Folk Rock band, Parsonsfield. The band spent a week in the shadow of Mount Katahdin, enjoying all the land had to offer and using their experience to write a song inspired by the landscape.

Katahdin Woods & Waters Recreation Area encompasses 100,000 acres, managed by a Maine foundation, Elliotsville Plantation, Inc. It's open to the public and is working to become America's next National Park. Sustain and Parsonsfield were deeply impressed by the land and people of KWWRA and are excited to share this Songscape song, KTAADN, with the world.

Proceeds from sales of KTAADN will support Parsonsfield, Sustain and Katahdin Woods & Waters Recreation Area.

Sustain also thanks Greg Dyson, of Green Roster band Hanging Hills, for donating his graphic art skills to create this album cover.

Check out Parsonsfield HERE and Katahdin Woods & Waters HERE.

Spotlight Interview: Kochel Guitars

Sean Kochel, of Kochel Guitars, is a Green Roster Luthier, and the first luthier to have joined our community of environmental bands, luthiers and studios. We sought out Kochel at Red Ants Pants Festival in Montana after reading the festival program blurb about his guitars made from reclaimed wood. As soon as we saw the instruments, we knew that Kochel was making something special. Harrison fell in love with the Kochel Guitar sound, and ended up getting one of the Sawmill models made of wood from an 1865 homesteader's barn. We've been showing it off at Sustain events ever since.

We bring you this interview with Sean Kochel to shine some light on Kochel Guitars, his ethos, and his dedication to being green.

What type of instruments do you make at Kochel Guitars?

At Kochel Guitars, I build pretty much any stringed instrument.  I mainly build resonator guitars lately. I feel like I am getting a reputation for them. I do solid body electrics guitars to acoustic guitars. I also get a fair amount of ukulele and box guitar orders. Recently I have started building and selling hollow body resonators.  They sound great and are a lot of fun to play. 

Sustain is all about highlighting best environmental practices in the music industry. Can you tell us what Kochel Guitars has done to uphold an environmental ethic?

What I do to be as environmentally ethical in my business is to use locally harvested and sustainable materials. I also do a large portion of my instrument building with reclaimed and recycled materials.  Most of those come from 100 year old plus barns, homesteader houses and any other building I can get my hands on. While at the same time, I use things like elk bone for nuts and saddles of the instruments. I get the bones from hunters and meat processors, all from the area I live.

What advice do you have for other luthiers who are thinking about adopting more environmental practices in their art?

I would say, don't worry about only using traditional materials for instrument building.  Try new materials or uncommon or found materials.  You would be surprised how well a lot of these different materials sound and work. Finds whats local or commonly discarded and work with it.

How does music and nature play a role in your life?

Music does pretty much everything in my life.  It is what motivates me, and helps sustain a certain feeling or mood. It helps me creatively.  I mean it pretty much touches ever aspect of my life, it is life!

Nature, like music, does a lot of the same things, but in a different way. I feel like I am inspired by nature. I feel it comes out in what I create.

Check out Kochel Guitars at www.kochelguitars.com and on Facebook here.