With roots in Celtic and Appalachian music, the Contrarians have inspired dancers from NY to Atlanta to St.Louis and points in between with genre bending grooves featuring sax, fiddle, mandolin, electric and acoustic guitar, stick bass, foot percussion and more.
Contrarians deliver hot contra dance music from West Virginia, where the traditions trend toward square dance and bluegrass. The Contrarians, however, as their name implies, are not restricted by genres: Celtic, French Canadian, Swing, Gypsy, as well as Appalachian and original tunes are woven together and spiced with Afro-pop, Reggae, blues, and other grooves.
Balance and Shout! is the Contrarians' 2nd CD. It features John Longwell's smooth sax, Andy Park's electric grooves and acoustic leads, Paul's energetic fiddling and complex compositions, and the always solid, yet imaginative bass playing of Will Carter.
The Contrarians have been touring the contra dance circuit since 1999, playing from New York to Atlanta, Ann Arbor to St. Louis, and most places in between. Our first CD is also available for purchase at CD Baby. That self-titled CD captures vibrant energy at the height of our years working with Gary Reynolds on guitar, piano, and his bluesy trumpet. Gary moved on in 2013, but many of his contributions remain with us, including one composition on the new CD. Our second CD, Balance and Shout, included Andy Park, who played guitar with us through 2017 and added electric grooves to our repertoire as well as acoustic leads to our sound. Josh Barrett of Charleston, WV joined us in 2018 on acoustic and electric guitars to pick up where Andy left off.
You can also buy digital from I-tunes (whole CD or singles) 1st: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-contrarians/id302122458 Balance and Shout: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/balance-and-shout/1292564826itunes.apple.com/us/album/balance-and-shout/1292564826
search Pandora, Rhapsody, etc. you should find us, at least to listen to a few tracks (give us the thumbs up!). Every listen pays us something (sometimes $.0001, sometimes $.10--it all depends on the service, musicians have no power over that :).
Or you can e-mail [email protected] and arrange for CDs to be mailed via USPS.
Contrarians deliver hot contra dance music from West Virginia, where the traditions trend toward square dance and bluegrass. The Contrarians, however, as their name implies, are not restricted by genres: Celtic, French Canadian, Swing, Gypsy, as well as Appalachian and original tunes are woven together and spiced with Afro-pop, Reggae, blues, and other grooves.
Balance and Shout! is the Contrarians' 2nd CD. It features John Longwell's smooth sax, Andy Park's electric grooves and acoustic leads, Paul's energetic fiddling and complex compositions, and the always solid, yet imaginative bass playing of Will Carter.
The Contrarians have been touring the contra dance circuit since 1999, playing from New York to Atlanta, Ann Arbor to St. Louis, and most places in between. Our first CD is also available for purchase at CD Baby. That self-titled CD captures vibrant energy at the height of our years working with Gary Reynolds on guitar, piano, and his bluesy trumpet. Gary moved on in 2013, but many of his contributions remain with us, including one composition on the new CD. Our second CD, Balance and Shout, included Andy Park, who played guitar with us through 2017 and added electric grooves to our repertoire as well as acoustic leads to our sound. Josh Barrett of Charleston, WV joined us in 2018 on acoustic and electric guitars to pick up where Andy left off.
You can also buy digital from I-tunes (whole CD or singles) 1st: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-contrarians/id302122458 Balance and Shout: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/balance-and-shout/1292564826itunes.apple.com/us/album/balance-and-shout/1292564826
search Pandora, Rhapsody, etc. you should find us, at least to listen to a few tracks (give us the thumbs up!). Every listen pays us something (sometimes $.0001, sometimes $.10--it all depends on the service, musicians have no power over that :).
Or you can e-mail [email protected] and arrange for CDs to be mailed via USPS.
