WFUV On Your Radar Hosted by John Platt feat. Damn Tall Buildings, South for Winter, Jared Feinman

Celebrating Rockwood Music Hall’s 15-Year Anniversary!

In their early days, Damn Tall Buildings didn’t rehearse – they busked. Now, whether live or on record, the band still radiates the energy of a ragtag crew of music students playing bluegrass on the street. But anchoring that energy is their instrumental chops, their strong songwriting, and their varied influences that stretch beyond bluegrass, even beyond American roots music altogether. Whether sharing lead vocals and instrumental solos or blending their voices into loose, joyous harmony, the four members of Damn Tall Buildings blend elements of bluegrass, blues, roots-rock and vintage swing to create a captivating, high-energy sound. Since their busking days, they’ve made three albums: 2014’s Cure-All, 2015’s self-titled, and their forthcoming third album, Don’t Look Down. The band has also relocated to Brooklyn, NY and toured widely, sharing stages with Sierra Hull and the California Honeydrops and appearing at festivals like Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival, Philadelphia Folk Festival, and Freshgrass Festival, where they took second place in the 2016 band competition. Their lyrics find beauty and glory in the mundane, workaday struggle of everyday life: time keeps passing, you don’t like your job, you drink too much, you laugh with your friends, you search for a home, and you dream about what else might be out there. You carry on. This is what Damn Tall Buildings sings about, what they seek to share with their audience.

South for Winter began when New Zealand musician Nick Stone and Colorado singer-songwriter Dani Cichon met as volunteers in South America in 2014. There, on a Peruvian rooftop, the two wrote their first song together - one that would later become South for Winter’s first single, “Fallen Seeds.” After three years spent pursuing different projects on opposite sides of the world, Stone and Cichon moved to Nashville and formed a duo under the name South for Winter. The two soon met classically-trained cellist Alex Stradal, who rounded out the eclectic blend of instrumentation and vocals that has now become so characteristic of their music, and as a trio began touring throughout the United States and Canada. With a genre-bending sound, meticulously crafted lyrics, captivating natural charisma, and an impressive assortment of instruments at their command, South for Winter have quickly gained a following in the United States and Canada and have time and time again established themselves as a crowd favorite.

In 2019 South for Winter were nominated as one of 32 rising artists by Nashville’s top independent radio station (Lightning 100), in 2019 they were voted a "Most Wanted" Emerging Artist at Falcon Ridge Festival, and recently were chosen as a Top Artist of 2019 by BuzzMusic. South for Winter are now recording their debut album at award-winning studio The Tracking Room in Nashville TN with Grammy-nominated producer Matt Leigh.

Only 5 credits short of graduating from the University of Richmond with a business degree, Jared Feinman withdrew, recognizing the business world was not for him. A few months later, he auditioned and was accepted to the prestigious contemporary conservatory, Berklee College of Music, where he cultivated and practiced the craft of song.

The Philadelphia-area native writes poignant lyrics and arranges mournful instrumentals that enhance his vocals, a sultry mix of jazz and blues. When you listen to Jared you don’t just hear his voice you feel it. Jared’s singing is accompanied by his piano playing, supported by a rhythm section with additional musicians on strings, horns, and background vocals. His signature songs, with their mournful and moody style, have been coined “murder ballads,” and have a particular draw: Long after hearing them, they leave a listener with a heart-twisting, soul-crushing ache.

Since returning to Pennsylvania in 2017, Jared has concentrated a lot of time on crafting riveting song lyrics that pair perfectly with his absolute pitch. Part of the secret to his growing songbook is a lulling rhythm that rouses the senses and connects to the mind, as heard in his debut release in 2018, “Love Is an Obstacle.” Followed up with his second single “All My Life,” released in October 2019, Feinman will continue to release more tracks throughout the rest of 2019 and into 2020.