PAUL JACOBSEN & THE MADISON ARM
It’s been a good handful of years for Paul Jacobsen– touring through venues like the legendary CBGB’s (may it rest in peace) in New York and Hotel Café in Hollywood, playing shows with great acts like Sheryl Crow, John Hiatt, The Jayhawks, Ryan Bingham, Robert Earl Keen, Bowerbirds, Megafaun, Great Lake Swimmers, Laura Gibson, and a variety of others. He’s been a finalist in both the Telluride Bluegrass Troubadour and Rocky Mountain Folks Fest Songwriter contests, even singing onstage with bluegrass legend Sam Bush at Telluride. His songs have made their way onto radio across the country and around the world, into indie films, and into the ears of music lovers everywhere. Paul Jacobsen & The Madison Arm, his most recent album with his indispensable, dynamic band, was recorded over two years in basements, a Montana cabin, a Brooklyn living room, and a couple bona fide studios, and has garnered critical praise:
".. a straight-ahead winner of an album, full of fine songs…sad, majestic. Drawing upon strong lyrics and gorgeous backup vocals...The Madison Arm has made an album deserving of a larger audience."
-Scott Murphy, Salt Lake Tribune
"They said it would be epic. And it was. It was epic."
- Erin McKeown, singer/songwriter
"Folk-rock? Alt-country? Not sure what you’d label it, exactly; I just call it some of the best songwriting in these parts, delivered by masterfully skilled players."
- Dan Nailen, Salt Lake City Weekly
THE MADISON ARM IS USUALLY BUT NOT ALWAYS:
Paul Jacobsen: vocals, guitar
Scott Wiley: electric guitar, bass, banjo, vocals
Patrick Campbell: drums & drum-like objects
Ryan Tanner: pump organ, piano, guitar, vocals
Brian Hardy: Hammond B3 organ, wurlitzer, piano, vocals
AND SOMETIMES:
Dylan Schorer: lap steel, pedal steel, Bethlehem steel
Debra Fotheringham: vocals, percussion
Dustin Christensen: vocals, piano
Tyler Lambourne/Ryan Tilby/George Brunt: bass (not usually at the same time, though)