The Josey Dears, Dream Version, Emily Jane Powers

Josey Dear and Drew Victor, two vagabond singer-songwriters played countless solo shows together before joining forces to create “The Josey Dears.” A band of multi-talented singer-songwriters performing under the canopy of a spirited delivery of Josey’s many songs.

Vocalist Allison Robinson, graduated NYU with a degree in vocal performance. Drummer Katie Schottland has been performing her own brand of bitter-sweet folk balladry for the better part of five years. Lee Godleski is a multi-instrumentalist who has been enchanting Brooklynites for years with his off-kilter brand of dynamic song crafting. He grabbed a bass, quickly fell into the pocket, and the band was propelled into something new.

The Josey Dears bring to mind better times. California vibes with New York grit. Forlorn songs of hope delivered with sugar sweet harmonies and relentless make-out vibes. The band itself is a family. With all the joy and the hurt therein. A tight-knit group of talented dreamers singing their way through the confusion of life, looking forward to a brighter tomorrow. They are funny, sweet, and charismatic. They sing songs of sadness, acceptance, love, and loss. All with a knowing smile and a flirtatious wink.


Dream Version are a Chicago indie pop band, influenced in equal parts by punk, surf, girl group, and dance music. They are Eric Brummitt (guitar), Ned Harkness (electronics), Alec Jensen (vocals, bass), and Michael Kunik (drums).

The four gentlemen of Dream Version met as teachers at a Chicago elementary school. One way their day jobs have influenced their music is through their desire to make the complicated seem simple. Dream Version songs follow a labyrinthine path through choruses, bridges, and chord and tempo changes, but arrive in an agreeable, immediate, compact pop package. The listener's first reaction might be a sugar high, but this band offers far more to sustain the appetite.

Dream Version songs are about making mountains out of molehills. They find psychological drama in activities as simple as walking a dog, getting in a car, or watching TV. Their protagonists struggle, sometimes feebly, sometimes mightily, against their own petty neuroses. The result is alternately frustrating, inspiring, and funny.


Emily Jane Powers is a Chicago indie pop artist who plays guitar, violin, keys, drums, and sings. While she incorporates aspects of 60s pop, folk, and punk into her music, she has never looked to any influence but herself for a sense of direction. Known primarily for her densely arranged bedroom pop, Emily recently finished Part of Me, a new album that peels back the layers to reveal her most direct songwriting and creative production to date.

Emily's music has been a well-kept secret for over a decade. New listeners who stumble upon her back catalog will be overwhelmed by its size and richness. Starting in Michigan in 2002, Emily wrote and recorded an album nearly every year, honing a bedroom pop sound that was simultaneously lush, intimate, and playful. Fiercely independent, her albums were generally DIY in spirit and technique, but the final product had an undeniable universal appeal that set her apart from the lo-fi scene. Her sugary and multilayered sound reached perfection on 2009's Undertone, a joyfully luxuriant set of ten expertly crafted songs.

On Part of Me, Emily assesses the value and durability of her ties to the past. As with many of her previous albums, it explores past loves and friendships with a touch of nostalgia and a touch of hurt, Part of Me focuses largely on the latter. Assigning blame and offering forgiveness, Emily weighs the costs and benefits of her connections to the past in a struggle to determine which to keep and which to sever.