Carbon Leaf’s fifteenth studio album, Time is the Playground is both a call to action and an embrace of the moment. Marrying nostalgic storytelling to nuanced, folk-infused indie rock, the Richmond, Virginia band embroiders heartfelt melody and harmony with acoustic and electric instrumentation to create a 12-song rumination on time, love and personal growth that’s equal parts urgent epiphany and contented exhalation. “Everybody says people don’t listen to albums anymore,” mulled Carbon Leaf frontman Barry Privett, holed up in a coastal cottage. “So, the challenge for us was to make something that felt good to get through from beginning to end ... to listen to like a story.” Originally formed as a college cover band in 1992 and with over 3,500 famously enthused live shows together, Carbon Leaf helped to define the aughts indie rock that they ultimately outgrew and outlasted. They first earned national recognition with “The Boxer,” a song that won the American Music Awards 2002 New Music Award and made Carbon Leaf the first unsigned band to perform before millions on the AMAs. “The Boxer” entered regular radio rotation, Carbon Leaf’s tours grew bigger and better, and within a couple of years they quit their day jobs and inked a record deal. The band’s fanbase snowballed, drawn to their infectious spirit of commitment, empathy, communion, and self-reliance – not to mention supremely crafted songs with ultra-relatable, thought-provoking lyrics. After a trio of charting albums for Vanguard Records, multiple songwriting awards and headlining shows, Carbon Leaf opted to return to the complete creative control of their indie roots. Guitarist Terry Clark, who co-founded the band with Privett and multi-instrumentalist Carter Gravatt, converted his garage into the band’s Two-Car Studio, where they’ve recorded releases for their own Constant Ivy imprint ever since. Carbon Leaf’s DIY spirit even extended to re-recording their three Vanguard albums in order to regain the rights. Due in September, Time is the Playground is Carbon Leaf’s first full-length album in a decade, during which they released two EPS and a 27-song live performance album and Blu-ray. Time is the Playground gathers the best of songs written, in fits and starts, over 15 years, alongside brand new ideas. Privett dusted off old demos and shut himself away for months to finish their stories, while also honing recent compositions. With Clark engineering, Carbon Leaf – completed by longtime bassist Jon Markel and drummer Jesse Humphrey – spent a year and a half recording and mixing the resulting songs. “Thinking about these disparate pieces of music, I began ruminating on time itself,” Privett recalled. “The band’s been together a long time. You mature a bit and see yourself in place on the timeline ... rolling around the scenes of love and growth.” Masterfully melding saturated AC/DC guitar and squelchy Cars synth, “Backmask 1983” is a fun flipbook of evocative era emblems – Farah Fawcett, “Satanic Panic,” Time Life Books, Bigfoot and more – that traverses the simultaneous nexus of Privett’s childhood/adolescence and the world’s analog/digital ages. It’s about morphing into a new person and a new planet with wide-eyed wonder and a longing to believe. “Without a whole lot of information, the mystery of things felt so heightened,” recalled Privett of growing up pre-Internet. “I wanted to capture some of that but also have fun with it.” “I want what we create to resonate with ourselves, to the level that we want to play it for a long time to come, and where we want others to hear it and experience it,” Privett concluded. “Hopefully, listeners can glean the pieces from it that they identify with.” Time is the Playground will be accompanied by the tireless touring almost synonymous with Carbon Leaf, who’ve become a model for self-managing bands in the digital landscape.

Katie Rose played her first live show in 2011 at age 13, this young talent took the crowd by surprise performing unique covers of Ingrid Michaelson and even Adele.  From the moment she stepped on that first stage, Katie knew music was her passion and there was no looking back. Shortly after that first show, Katie Rose started experimenting with writing her own songs and discovered an even greater love than performing. At age 14, she met another talented singer, Nina Murchison and they joined forces to form the singer/songwriter duo Katina Rose. The girls were known for their powerful harmonies and strong friendship, but sadly, not everything can last. After a 9-month trip around the U.S. where Rose performed in different cities like, L.A., San Francisco, San Diego, and Nashville, the two ended things. The breakup sent Rose into a downward spiral of self-doubt and anger. With the help of music she was able to pull herself out of that dark hole and begin the next step in her growth.  Turning her journey of self-discovery into music; the then 17 year old, wrote the album, Everything Yesterday. With the help of Eric Rickert and Jeff Leonard at Ocean Industries Studios, her songs became an anthem that Allen Foster from AXS calls, “music that lifts her fans up and makes them feel alive and eager to take on life”. Her collaboration with Jump Little Children’s, Jay Clifford on the song “Wonder”, prompted Magnet Magazine to gush, “Clean, crisp production brings out the best in Rose’s curious, beautiful voice and Jay Clifford’s gigantic string arrangements.”   Ever refining her solo show in her hometown of Charleston, SC, Katie has embarked as the direct support act on a 25 date east coast and Midwest tour with platinum selling artist Howie Day, followed by a tour with nationally acclaimed band, Jump Little Children. In addition to her moving solo shows featuring Katie on both piano and guitar, she is also backed by her four-piece band. Their full band shows bring an added depth to the songs and inevitably bring the crowds to their feet, especially during upbeat songs like Take Me Away. Katie Rose looks forward to spending 2017 touring and sharing the musical love, while eating lots of cookies and reading Marvel Comics.