Ted Russell Kamp (Los Angeles, CA)
Ted Russell Kamp is an LA-based singer/songwriter, producer and Grammy winning bass player who has released twelve critically-acclaimed albums, the most recent of which is 2024’s California Son. He also plays live, records sessions, and collaborates on songs with A-list songwriters and musicians in L.A., Nashville, Austin and around the world, including Jessi Colter, Whitey Morgan, Wilson Phillips, Sam Morrow, and others. Ted often works out of his home studio — The Den — and has produced several well-received albums for fellow artists there. He has had the honor of being a friend, collaborator and member of Shooter Jennings’ band for most of the last 15 years. Ted also played on the 2020 Grammy winning Country Album of the Year, Tanya Tucker’s While I’m Living.
Matt Woods (Knoxville, TN)
Matt Woods is a product of Appalachia. You can hear his East Tennessee roots tangled in the lines of his songs and it is through this filter he distills the world, both external and internal, into his unique brand of songwriting. You can call it Americana, folk rock, even country music but no matter what it’s called it is, at its core, honest and heartfelt. Spending most of his time on the road, either engaging listeners as a solo artist or enrapturing them with his band, Matt Woods and the Natural Disasters, he would say, if asked, that he is “just trying to share some truth and get along.” 2019 brought the release of Woods’ 4th full length studio album, Natural Disasters, and an impressive touring schedule in support of it across the US and Europe, the latter of which having become a yearly endeavor since the release of 2016’s How To Survive. As the global Covid-19 pandemic brought touring to a halt, Matt moved forward in other ways including keeping connected via online events, writing for future releases, and even releasing an EP titled Mornings After as a companion piece to the 2019 album.
Robert Cody Maxwell (Brooklyn, NY)
Spirited and hopeful, Brooklyn based songwriter Robert Cody Maxwell’s songs channel the vigor and vision of early heartland rock. Unadorned lyricism and driving guitar arrangements make for a live show that occasionally borders on theatre, pivoting between intimate, folksy confessionals and ballsy rock and roll with clear nods to 1970’s New Jersey. There’s a tenacity that runs through the songs, and Maxwell’s stark, brassy delivery reflects a resolve that feels hard-won.
About the author: Mild-mannered corporate executive by day, excitable Twangville denizen by night.