Dietrich Strause and The Blue Ribbons, Boston based folk and rock artists, will be performing together on Friday, June 23rd at Riverwalk Cafe and Music Bar in Nashua, NH.
It’s a classic love story. A young doe-eyed literate songwriter meets a dangerous avant-garde rock and roll band. Such is the story of Dietrich Strause and The Blue Ribbons’ burgeoning collaboration. They met seven years ago sharing back to back Tuesday night residencies at Toad, a small rock club in Cambridge. Now with funding from Passim’s Iguana Grant, Dietrich Strause and The Blue Ribbons recorded together in Maine in January 2017. Immediately following the session they collaborated live for the first time, with three shows throughout New England, bringing the magic and glow of the record making process straight into the venue.
The Boston Globe has said The Blue Ribbons “combine upbeat disillusionment and celebratory fatalism with musicianship.” An unlikely and exciting match for Dietrich Strause’s meticulously crafted songs – which WBUR says are a mix of timeless melody, literate lyricism, and a “virtuosic command of imagery.”
Boston Music Award winning four piece band, The Blue Ribbons have a fearless sound; evolved over a decade of tirelessly and joyously playing bar rooms, clubs, and festivals. Their influences are rooted deeply in the jazz and rock and roll anti-traditions, described as “Ray Charles and Tom Waits on a pirate ship with Sun Ra and Captain Beefheart.” In his eight years living in New England, Dietrich Strause has evolved in his own parallel way, from writing Appalachian nostalgia porn to mid-century modern pop in the vein of Nick Lowe and Randy Newman. He spent the fall living alone in London and traveling extensively throughout the United Kingdom, touring solo by train and foot. Out of this solitude and constant motion came songs suited for filtering through the wild collective mind of The Blue Ribbons.