Forward

Musicians from across the U.S. to celebrate Midwestern music and culture in Madison Sept. 17-19

We’re pleased to announce a second year of Midwest-centric music at venues that include the Overture Center, High Noon Saloon, Majestic Theatre, Frequency, Inferno, Corral Room, Project Lodge, and Orpheum Theatre Stage Door and Lobby, as well as additional spaces throughout the city.

Chicago’s own Andrew Bird will headline this year’s festival with a Sept. 19 concert at Madison’s Overture Hall. Madison-based chamber-pop act Pale Young Gentlemen will open the show.

Forward Music Festival 2009 will also feature local and regional bands at each of its showcases, plus more than two dozen national touring acts–many with Midwestern roots. Current touring acts confirmed include Low, Cougar, Dan Wilson (of Semisonic), Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s, YACHT, Ra Ra Riot, Fruit Bats, Iran, Richard Buckner, Garaj Mahal, Pronto, Punchline, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, Action Item, Kevin Barker, Between the Trees, Farewell, Davila 666, Savoir Adore, Rock Plaza Central, Princeton, Wavves, and BLK JKS.

Madison bands confirmed for FMF09 at press time include Jeremiah Nelson & The Achilles Heel, Daniel and the Lion, Blueheels, Cartwalkers, Flatbear, Homeownered, Nuclear Woods, All Tiny Creatures, Terrior Bute, Start from Scratch, This Bright Apocalypse, Icarus Himself, This Bright Apocalypse, Peaking Lights, Sleeping in the Aviary, and Little Red Wolf.

Regionally based acts include Collections of Colonies of Bees, Cedarwell, Maps and Atlases, Solid Gold, Denison Witmer, Joe Pug, Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, Occidental Brothers Dance Band Intl., Ghetto Division, The Hue, Decibully, French Horn Rebellion, Zach Vinson, The Chairs, Pezzetino, and Pomegranates. Countless additional artists will be announced in the weeks and months leading up to Forward Music Fest 2009.

Amble Down Records, an Eau Claire-based independent record label and management firm started in 2007 by young musician Kyle Frenette, will hold a showcase at this year’s Forward Music Fest featuring most of its current and active roster: The Cloud Hymn, We Are The Willows, Meridene, The Wars of 1812, and The Daredevil Christopher Wright. The entire Amble Down catalog will be available for sale (all nine releases from 2007 and 2008) at the showcase.

In addition, the Forward Collaborative has partnered with local promoters Wongz Walk, local music blog JustSayinIsAll.com, and Reverence Fest organizer Matt Fanale to curate FMF09 showcases, which will be unveiled in the near future.

General Admission badges go on sale July 11 at noon and will be available through the Forward Music Festival website and at the Overture Center box office.