Lula Wiles on Folk & Beyond, June 30
By Folk Department
Isa Burke, Ellie Buckland, and Mali Obomsawin, known collectively as Lula Wiles, will stop by WTJU this Thursday afternoon, June 30, around 4:30 for a visit to Folk & Beyond ahead of their concert that night at The Garage (details).
A Lula Wiles show is like a whiskey-slap to the heart. Gathered around one microphone, Isa Burke, Ellie Buckland, and Mali Obomsawin pass around instruments and frontwoman duties with style and ease. Their effervescent vocal harmonies, deep musical chemistry, and evocative arrangements create a dynamic and spirited live show. Lula Wiles are equally at home in a rowdy bar of two-steppers, a sweltering midsummer festival stage, or a quiet candlelit club. They bring diverse influences to original songs that combine tradition with a distinctly modern sensibility. Their repertoire spans from centuries-old Appalachian ballads to classic country to contemporary Americana songwriting. All the members of Lula Wiles grew up in Maine in musical families, and they began playing music together as kids at Maine Fiddle Camp.
One by one, they each found their way to Boston to study at Berklee College of Music. Isa and Ellie (both on vocals, fiddle, and guitar) began performing as a duo in April 2013, and Lula Wiles was born when Mali (bass, vocals) joined the band a year later. Now based in Boston’s thriving and close-knit roots music community, Lula Wiles have performed at premier festivals and clubs throughout the Northeast, including Club Passim, One Longfellow Square, the Sinclair, Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival, Ossipee Valley Music Festival, Fresh Grass Festival, and Tweed River Music Festival. They were also selected as Official Showcase Artists for the 2016 Folk Alliance International conference.
Their debut album, released May 27, 2016, features eleven original songs that span from acoustic ballads to Cajun barroom swagger to modern indie-folk, all anchored by rich vocal harmonies and focused clearly on delivering the song above all else. As songwriters, these young women navigate hope and heartbreak with clever lyrics and fearless honesty. All proficient multi-instrumentalists, the three women of Lula Wiles are each uniquely powerful in their own right, but combined, they are a force to be reckoned with.
