More Mile of Music picks as festival opens this week

This another in a series of music critic Scott Peeple's reviews

RON ARTIS II   Americana/Hawaiian

Neil Young’s iconic song, “From Hank to Hendrix,” comes to mind when diving into the music of Hawaiian multi-instrumentalist and free-feeling songwriter Ron Artis II. So many influences, so many voices, so much musical talent to share. 

Artis’ voice drips with quiet optimism, soft enough to hear a guava drop but also loud and adventurous, his roaring guitar offering no excuses as it kisses the sky. His songs and writing style have been shaped by his musical family (he’s the oldest of 11), his love of gospel and Delta blues and performances with artists like Jack Johnson, the light rock singer, also hailing from Hawaii. 

He’s been compared to Gary Clark Jr. and Mile of Music fans will feel Wild Adriatic déjà vu on the clamorous songs. In 2018, Artis released his debut album, Soul Street, followed by Love is Love a year later and We Are Not Machines in 2024. In addition to performing solo, with his band and with numerous collaborators, he has also made a name for himself as a public speaker. 

At Mile of Music 13, in addition to playing solo shows, Artis is one of four artists collaborating with the Lawrence Chamber Music Festival. Cross-genre collaboration -- combining classical instrumentation and arrangements with young Mile artists like Artis -- has become a highly anticipated and unique aspect of the Mile festival. One of his mantras is “music is a language, what do you want to say?” With this music, our souls are stirred and our minds become reflective. On the title track from Machines, Artis’ voice is inviting and serene, in the spirit of Lenny Kravitz' “Let Love Rule,” but minus the frantic cry. 

“Don’t mute the reminders, that we are not machines. Don’t mute the reminders, that we are not machines.” 

It’s a campaign promise for humanity, a light for the world. And Hank and Hendrix would approve.

HARVEY STREET  Indie rock

Mid-tempo Indie rock youngsters Harvey Street tightly weave a delightfully colorful tapestry of big guitar chords and tight melodies, tucked nicely behind traded lead vocals. The five North Carolina State alumni graduated from college fraternity gigs in 2021 to support Mile of Music vets Winyah and The Stews and headlining four tours covering 22 states. 

Simply named for the Raleigh street several of them grew up near, they bound onto College Avenue for their Mile debut on the heels of their 2025 EP, Great Escape. The release includes two of their earliest originals, “Betty” and “Irish Goodbye,” a tune about quietly slipping away after a night of overindulgence. On record, the lyrics are mostly fun, dual-guitar magic, easy groove and the stuff that should be dominating popular radio like it might have 30 years ago. In concert, the rhythm-is-gonna-get-ya tempo rises and the five members pounce, lighting up the stage with their ebullience, the two streets meet. 

BETH BOMBARA   Americana

With a lilting voice that rises and falls like a perfectly orchestrated symphony, Beth Bombara makes a triumphant return to the Mile of Music, her 7th appearance in 13 years. Yes, triumphant, in that her voice has made her one of the most popular performers to grace the Mile stage. But also in terms of survival. Less than a year ago, she was hit by a car while walking in her St. Louis neighborhood. Fractured ribs and a broken wrist requiring surgery led to a flurry of canceled shows. But her spirit never faltered and, several months later, she was writing and performing with a renewed sense of gratitude. 

At Mile 13, Bombara will be performing with her full band. Her latest single, “Not Enough,” from her upcoming release, articulates both her recovery journey and learned wisdom from her years on the road as an independent Americana artist:

“Nothing is making sense right now/I thought I had it all figured out/The good, the bad and the mess between/Don’t you know it’s not enough for me.” 

With a rich vocal resonance as captivating as Linda Ronstadt, Gillian Welsh or Andrea Von Kampen, Bombara is a rock-and-roll natural – pitch perfect, rolling with the rhythm and voicing themes that pull you in like Petty, Dylan or Emmylou Harris. Her 2023 release, It All Goes Up, is a minor variation on her Americana sound. The opener, “Moment,” has a George Harrison vibrancy to it. “Electricity” mixes a bit of sonic echo with a California ‘70s acoustic vibe, pairing perfectly with Bombara’s voice. 

And the soaring perfection of “Lonely Walls” is a natural follow up to the flawless “Growing Wings” from her 2018 release,  Evergreen. In concert, her guitar-driven song-rays of light, spanning her 19-year solo career, bend brilliantly through a prism of introspection, optimism and grace. With a smile and a fresh batch of moxie, it’ll take a lot more than a careless driver to clip Bombara’s forever-growing wings.

CHRIS PIERCE   Folk

“We sing for humanity, so we all can walk the earth. We’ll sing with the pain, and we’ll keep on marching on.” 

While Bruce Springsteen’s anti-ICE anthem shouted the names, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, Chris Pierce’s “American Silence,” written five years earlier, is an equally prescient cry for advocacy. Stirring the pot of human emotion to boil away our inherent complacency is what songwriters like Pierce, Springsteen and Neil Young, whom Pierce has opened for, do so well. 

The Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter brings his raison d’etre to Mile of Music 13 on the heels of his brand-new album,  Songs for the Heavy Hearted,  the eighth solo album in a career that began with the release of  Liberation Vol. I  24 years ago. He has collaborated with Sunny War, whose unconventional talent charmed Appleton audiences at Mile 7 and with Allison Russell, another Mile 7 alum, on his current release. Pierce wrote “We Can Always Come Back to This” for the acclaimed TV series, “This Is Us” and has appeared with the Black Opry Revue. 

On his latest, hopeful resilience permeates songs like “Spirits All Over the Land” and “It Ain’t Ever Wrong to Be Free,” while “Kalief Browder,” featuring Russell, is a lament on the destruction of a man’s life at the hands of the criminal justice system. Through music, one man and his guitar, Pierce is at peace with his role: coping with the malaise that permeates our nation by using the unifying spirit of song. His smooth but soul-wrenching voice can be stirring one moment and calming the next. 

“Sunlit Morning,” the first single from  Heavy Hearted, is encouragement for everyday people, respite from hate and bitterness. With a cup of coffee, his wife at his side and a breath of reassurance, he sings, “I’m going to hold my woman, as mercy washes over me.” In Minneapolis, Springsteen encouraged us to take a stand for the stranger in our midst. But sometimes that stranger is us. Chris Pierce has been shot at, violently arrested and had a cross burned on his lawn. Waking up and facing another day, no matter what’s going on – it’s the story of his life. As mercy washes over me. 

MADELEINE KELSON   Americana

When Madeline Kelson played Appleton just a few months ago, she reflected warmly on her first band, the Kelson Twins, the duo she launched at the age of 13 with her sister, Juliet. The burgeoning Americana artist who played Mile 4 with her sister has travelled a lot of miles since then, starting with her college move to Nashville, where she launched her solo career. Inspired by everything from Dolly Parton, Lucinda Williams and bluegrass standards, she released her debut,  Siren, a five-song EP, in 2018. Kelson punctuates her songs with cheerful earnestness: happy songs with a message. This comes across quite clearly on “The Way I Do,” from her full-length debut album, While I Was Away. 

“Call me a sinner and I'll call you a fool/Damn me to hell and I'll break you the news/If I don't get to heaven for loving her true/God has never loved a woman the way I do.” 

On stage, her pride radiates as she enunciates the lines. Working both sides of her brain, the album was written as Kelson’s college thesis. Lyrically, the album focuses on her life. Musically, she describes it as a celebration of “the building block genres of Americana.” The title track from her latest EP, “Where the Spirit Meets the Muscle,” is another display of her right-brained/left-brained reality, a deeper take on love, and a little more personal. In concert and on record, Kelson’s Chicago-born voice is pure and emotive, accompanied nicely by her acoustic guitar playing, her songs reflecting an ever-expanding knowledge of love, life and the human condition.

MICHAEL MURPHY  Americana

Making his third consecutive Mile of Music appearance, Michael Murphy is on fire. Not wildfire (that’s someone else) this is the golden-voiced songwriter and highly-sought-after side man playing with not one, not two, not three but four other bands, in addition to his own, at Mile of Music 13. Whether performing with his brothers, Jack and David, gigging solo or partnering with ubiquitous music scholar Steve March-Torme, Murphy’s presence in a room tells you you’re into something good. 

His old-soul sensibility glows, most notably when he lends his voice to March-Torme’s dynamic live presentations of iconic albums by The Beatles and Elton John. The Laurel Canyon storytelling style harkens back to the Los Angeles area’s folk music scene of the ‘60s and ‘70s. Murphy's vocals and guitar playing highlight March-Torme’s “Dalton Diamond” project, a 1970s-icon honoring California country/pop guitar-driven concept album from last year. 

Murphy’s powerful, melodic voice is the perfect fit for the album’s closing track, “This Old Heart.” Now based in Nashville, in between his own sets, he will be performing individually with Mile vets South For Winter, Claire Kelly and Danni Nicholls, as well as Mile newcomer Ruby James. He recorded his debut, Indigo Jones, in 2024, an album inspired by the Lawrence University grad’s short study in London, frustrated romance and his affinity for the idyllic stereotype of the free-wheelin’ cowboy. On songs like the title track and “Traveler,” he brings the cowboy/travelling musician metaphor to life, with a Dave Mason-style candor that showcases his rich, textured voice.