Aaron Espe
Denver, Colorado, United States | SELF
Music
Press
"One of the top 20 CDs we've found anywhere in the last year!"
- Intelligent Pop
"[His] music is honest and true. A real breath of fresh air in an ocean of superficiality -- with songwriting that reveals the insight of a skilled poet twice his age." ---- Ron Craighead, KGLT Radio, Bozeman, MT - KGLT Radio
"There's a special magic to those albums that enchant and hook you gently, quietly, stealthily, almost without your knowing. Aaron Espe's album, "My Whole Life" is just such an album... As easily as the sun rises and falls, his music inhales and exhales, ebbs and flows and satisfies some mysterious, hungry need in the soul. Hearing his music is like the experience of not realizing how thirsty you are until you start drinking...There's no doubt that this is some of the most gorgeous male folk you'll hear." ---- CD Baby
- CD Baby
"I first heard Aaron Espe at a benefit concert that I was doing with my duo Storyhill in Minneapolis back in 2004. I assumed it was going to be "just another opener" doing some nice songs on acoustic guitar...But when he started i was surprised to hear a depth of lyrics and musicality of guitar playing as anyone on the circuits -- if not more so. I was greatly impressed and found myself drawn into his songs. I would have gladly passed the rest of the night just listening to Aaron. " --- Chris Cunningham - Chris Cunningham, Storyhill
Discography
"Songs from a Small Town" (2008)
- Heavy rotation on 89.3 The Current, St. Paul, MN
"My Whole Life" (2005)
Photos
Bio
Alighting upon the folk music scene two years ago from the upland wilds of Northern Minnesota, Espe has begun to garner the attention we might expect from a significant young talent. His recent nods include:
- Winner of the 2008 Emerging Artist Contest, Four Corners Folk Festival
- “My Whole Life” a top 20 album for 2006 (intelligentpop.com)
- Feature artist for the 2007 Volkswagen Auto Tour
- Two feature interviews and live performances on BBC radio
- Among the top-ranked unsigned folk artists (myspace.com)
If such a thing as the clichéd “total package” exists then attending one of Espe’s concerts offers a hint as to what it may be. The beauty of his sound, coupled with the aura of a shy guy, stirs a desire to join the now burgeoning army of Espe’s unpaid publicists. Among his recent surge of supporters is Derek Sivers, president of CD Baby (America’s largest distributor of independent music). In an e-mail to Espe, Sivers exclaimed that his "My Whole Life" album was "one of the best [he's] ever heard," then featured it for three days on the home page of cdbaby.com.
A few of Espe’s recordings from the abovementioned “My Whole Life” were conceived in a rapid thrust of creativity (i.e. “Grace’), while most have been the result of a slow birth of inspiration. Consequently we are aware that Espe’s songs are more than trite phrasings, but rather shards of an authentic soul cast out to those within earshot.
Without benefit of the high-powered promotion that hammers mainstream music into our consciousness, Aaron Espe’s fans, nonetheless, greedily await the release of his second album, "Songs from a Small Town" (Spring 2008).
Links
