Celebrating the London 2012 Games with Emerging UK Artists! (August 5, 2012)

In honor of the London 2012 Olympics (which I am loving by the way) I wanted to share with all of you a few fantastic emerging UK artists.  Each is quite different from the other so please give them a listen...

Portia Conn (https://www.facebook.com/portiaconn) has just released her debut EP "Runaway" and this 19 year old has an incredible voice and sound.  Portia would do very well as an opener for Colbie Caillat or Sara Bareillas just for the sake of comparison. I love her voice and these songs are a great intro to this amazing talent.

Honey Ryder (https://www.facebook.com/HoneyRyderBand) is a band that I didn't expect to be from the UK when I first heard them - I was sure they were straight out of Nashville with their bend towards country.  But this London based trio is a modern day Fleetwood Mac - bringing wonderful songs and harmonies into the 21st century in a perfect way.  Their new album "Marley's Chains" is out now - available on iTunes in the UK or for us foreigners it can be downloaded from their web store (http://honeyryder.com/store/). And right now it's free (not sure if that's a mistake or not so I'd jump on that deal fast!).

Natives (https://www.facebook.com/follownatives) has much more of a modern rock sound (and some of you may recall them from their previous incarnation as a band when they were the called "Not Advised") - their songs are loud, high energy and a ton of fun.  They recently released their first single "This Island" which is fantastic.  You can also download another of their songs by adding yourself to their email list http://follownatives.com/.

The UK has so much to offer when it comes to great new music and I hope you'll give our friends across the pond the opportunity to be heard by more of us! 

Enjoy the rest of the Olympics, I know I will!

Have a great week and enjoy the music!
Ira