Joshua Ligairi » 1.30.11 »
My personal favorite discovery of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival was not a movie, but a band. Bramble, a group of street musicians that performed everyday of the festival, brought a lot of cheer as I slogged up and down Park City Main Street in the slush and snow.
They have an interesting line-up that features banjo, ukulele, accordion, and street drums and makes for a really unique sound--especially when combined with singer James Miska's rich vocals and fun, sin-along lyrics. The music is happy and upbeat and the group's youthful enthusiasm for what they do is totally addictive--even to a jaded asshole like me. This is the kind of stuff that really gets me excited.
I bought their CD on my first time walking by the band because, although I had a screening to make at Slamdance, I wanted to keep listening to their awesome music. On my iPod by day two, I had all of their songs memorized by day three, and still occasionally stopped for a listen. Not long afterward, I was trying to think of a way to work street musicians into my next film (which I did!).
I was able to find a great performance video of the band at Sundance 2010. The video captures their live performance, but fails to capture their sound because the audio mixer was pointing the only microphone directly at the singer so he dominates the mix. But it is still great. Check it out below:
You can buy their CD here and hear Bramble's side of their Sundance story here. Catch Bramble next at the True/False Film Festival in Colombia, MO--no kidding. And don't be surprised when you see them in my movie(s).
