We’re pleased to be part of the O+ Festival in Kingston NY. We’ll be at the Stockade Tavern on Saturday Oct. 6 at 6pm.
It’s a duo show. This place has great cocktails, btw. Great.
The video for “Song for Clementine” took first place in the music video category at the Art & Soul of the Catskills Film Festival last week. Congratulations to Directors Erica Hill & Margee Challa!
Some upcoming shows…
June 7 at the Rock Shop in Brooklyn.
June 16 at The Old School Baptist Church in Roxbury, NY… Roxbury Arts Group hosts. An amazing old country church in the middle of a farm field and backed by the Catskills Mountains, ie Two Dark Bird’s natural habitat. Director Erica Hill will be filming the event and Grammy-Award Winning Producer and Levon Helm Studio main man Justin Guip will be recording the event!
July 12 at the Living Room in NYC (with Alana Amram).
July 23 at the ZirZamin in NYC (w/ Dimestore Dance Band).
August 25 at the Woodstock Green in Woodtsock.
More dates are being added now. Stay tuned.
Kind words in this month’s Chronogram: ”Two Dark Birds embrace the rich Catskill Roots Music template; Songs for the New abounds with sonic nods to The Band, Van Morrison’s Tupelo Honey, and the epic gestures of Mercury Rev. Fuzzy keyboards and fingerpicked acoustics rub against violins and horns, and then it’s just Koester and Co. unplugged, offering a one-two punch of loss and exuberance over the metallic caress of a dobro. From barnburner to ballad, the full-grown men in Two Dark Birds execute these tunes with edgy intensity and hard-won grace.”
Read the entire review.
Today, Popmatters premiered our “Black Blessed Night” video, directed by Scott Kawczynski.
From yvynyl:
Two Dark Birds - Black Blessed Night (Von Wildenhaus Remix)
Steve Koester is a folk singer who’s darknesses and frailty is worn on his sleeve, the kind of sorcery you get from living a life in old mountains like the Catskills. He’s got a beautiful album out last year called Songs for the New, and now decided to ask his bandmates to reimagine a few of those tunes. One of my favorite weirdos, Ben von Wildenhaus plays keys for him and took this tun to the edge and back, pitch-shifting it into a beast of gnarled perportions turning it into what sounds like a soundtrack song to a David Lynch film. I love it.
See the band on Tumblr here, Ben’s right here. Get the Black Blessed Night EP on January 10th from Riot Bear Recording Co.
The Black Blessed Night EP is available now on iTunes. From Riot Bear Recording Co: On this EP, the members of Two Dark Birds each re-imagine a track from Songs for the New. Jason Mills does a laid back, dub mix of “Song for Clementine.” Ben von Wildenhaus does a chilling, pitch-bending mix of “Black Blessed Night” (listen). And Don Piper and Steve Koester perform stripped-down heartbreaking versions of “Comfort” and “Black Blessed Night.”
We made MAGNET Magazine a mix tape — a collection of the influences that went into our new album. Lots of Catskills jams plus Townes, Karen, Nina, Bill, Richard & Linda, and more… very fun!
Upcoming Shows: Dec 15 at Bowery Electric in NYC and Dec 27 at 5 Spot in Nashville (Steve solo). Details.
