FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 25, 2016
THE RAGBIRDS SIGN TO ROCK RIDGE MUSIC
New album from genre-bending band to be released March 25th
Ann Arbor, MI-based genre-bending band The Ragbirds have signed with Rock Ridge Music and will be releasing their fifth studio album via their new label on March 25, 2016. Written and recorded in the wake of the birth of co-founders Erin Zindle and Randall Moore’s first child, The Threshold & The Hearth adds another dimension to the band’s catalog. It’s an album that explores the ways in which love and family relationships can weather the storms of life, year after year.
“I’ve been traveling with bands since I was a teenager,” says Zindle, a multi-instrumentalist who doubles as the band’s chief songwriter and frontwoman. “I’ve written a lot of songs about my experiences on the road. For a while, The Ragbirds played a lot of different styles of world music: Celtic, tango, African numbers, gypsy-sounding pieces… You could pinpoint those songs to a specific region, so the music itself felt like a tour around the world. But we’re coming home with this album. There’s still a worldly feel, but there’s also the sense that The Threshold & The Hearth is the sound we’ve been searching for. I feel like we’re the alchemist who traveled so far, only to discover that what he was seeking was always at home.”
With influences ranging from Paul Simon to Peter Gabriel, the band turned to Grammy-nominated producer Jamie Candiloro for his help on the new album. Candiloro’s influences were similarly wide-ranging, with a resume that included credits on albums by R.E.M., Willie Nelson, the Eagles and Ryan Adams. Together, the group captured the spunk and spirit of a Ragbirds show, with Zindle’s new daughter serving as an inspiration.
Scheduled for release three years after 2013’s We Belong to the Love (a live album that shone a light on the band’s punchy, positive-minded stage show), The Threshold & The Hearth is louder and livelier than anything they’ve done before. The guitar solos, played by Erin’s brother T.J. Zindle, point to a longtime appreciation for rock and roll. The deep-seated grooves, performed by the three-piece rhythm section of drummer Jon Brown, percussionist Moore and bassist Dan Jones, mix punch with precision. And Zindle’s conceptual storyline for the album — a make-believe tale of two lovers who meet, fall in love and spend the next 20 years dealing with the joys and struggles that come with any long-term relationship — turns The Threshold & The Hearth into a universal album that appeals to anyone looking to forge a home out of the chaos of everyday life.
The band’s music — a hybrid of indie-pop melodies, global rhythms and songwriting styles influenced from all over the world — is as broad as their audience, which stretches from the group’s hometown in Michigan to the shores of Osaka, Japan (where they scored a number one pop hit with the song “Book of Matches”). Show by show, in venues ranging from rock clubs and performing arts centers to festivals encompassing everything from bluegrass to electronica, The Ragbirds have developed a well-deserved reputation as one of the most dynamic, high-spirited live bands in roots music. Looking Closer called them “eclectic, restlessly creative, poetic,” while AllMusic.com dubbed The Ragbirds “the very best of what independent music has to offer.” USA Today declared their music “highly impressive,” while the Ann Arbor Observer applauded their sound, calling it “a well-worn suitcase covered with travel stickers of world-music styles.” Revealarts trumpeted: “I feel like I’ve stumbled across a band that’s destined to achieve the same level of cult-greatness as The Innocence Mission, Bruce Cockburn, Ron Sexsmith, Sufjan Stevens, and yes, even Over the Rhine… astounding international eclecticism, mixing everything from reggae to Celtic to blues music along with plenty of world music into a unified, enchanting whole.”
In celebration of the new album, The Ragbirds are planning a hometown-area album release show at the Magic Bag in Ferndale, MI on March 25th. Additionally, the band plans to tour in support of the album (see tour dates below).
THE RAGBIRDS TOUR SCHEDULE:
2/6/2016 – Bellaire, MI / Short’s Brewing Company
2/20/2016 – Cadillac, MI / Cadillac Elks Lodge
2/26/2016 – Terre Haute, IN / The Verve
3/12/2016 – Grand Rapids, MI / Chili Blues Festival
3/24/2016 – Columbus, OH / Woodlands Tavern
3/25/2016 – Detroit (Ferndale), MI / The Magic Bag (official The Threshold & The Hearth album release show)
4/2/2016 – Lansing, MI / The Loft
4/6/2016 – Nashville, TN / 12th & Porter
4/8/2016 – Knoxville, TN / Rhythm N’ Blooms Festival
4/9/2016 – Brooksville, FL / Stringbreak Music Fest
4/10/2016 – Brooksville, FL / Stringbreak Music Fest
4/15/2016 – Grand Haven, MI / Tri Cities Museum
4/16/2016 – Traverse City, MI / Sweet Earth Festival
4/29/2016 – Indianapolis, IN / Mousetrap Bar & Grill
4/30/2016 – Goshen, IN / Ignition Music Garage
5/20/2016 – Berea, KY / The Moonshiner’s Ball
5/21/2016 – Yellow Springs, OH / Peach’s Bar & Grill
6/25/2016 – Alden, MI / Grass River Annual Benefit Concert
8/16/2016 – Rockford, IL / Tuesday Evening in the Gardens
…more dates to be announced soon.