Hunter Metts

Turning on a Hunter Metts song is like stepping into a colorful, cathartic world made just for two: His gentle indie folk music wraps around the ears and soul like a blanket – cozy and soft, ethereal and comforting, all coming from and speaking to a tender, aching heart. Authenticity is paramount for the artist and producer, for whom songwriting is as much a means of survival as it is one of artistic self-expression.

Born into a musical family in Nashville, Tennessee, Metts began playing instruments from a young age, gravitating toward avant folk artists like Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes in his teenage years. He fell hard and fast for artists like The Paper Kites, Gregory Alan Isakov, and Lord Huron, whose intentional lyrics and sweet, harmony-rich music became his north stars as he discovered his own voice and stepped into his own distinct folk identity.

Yet it wasn’t until he spent a few years in the workforce as a coder that Metts realized the nine-to-five cubicle life wasn’t for him, and he embarked on a music career . He unveiled his debut single “The River” in 2021 and has been releasing a steady stream of songs ever since, finally quitting his day job to pursue music full time in 2023.

“I’m not sitting down to make music for a playlist,” he says. “This is what I want to say, this is how I want to say it; I hope people relate to it, but at the same time it’s not crafted for that.”

Ben Cosgrove

Ben Cosgrove is a traveling composer-performer whose music explores themes of landscape, place, and environment. Described by the Boston Globe as “a sonic plein-air painter… [using] his piano as a paintbrush,” Ben has performed in every U.S. state except for Delaware, collaborated with groups ranging from rock bands to research scientists, contributed music to several radio and film projects (including the recent Ken Burns documentary The American Buffalo), and held residencies and fellowships with institutions including NASA, the National Park Service, the National Forest Service, Harvard University, Middlebury College, the Schmidt Ocean Institute, and the Sitka Center for Art & Ecology.

Ben’s music has been called “beautiful and fascinating” (The Maine Edge), “deeply impressive” (Independent Clauses), and “immediately evocative and fully arresting… brim[ming] with technical mastery and emotional capital” (Seven Days). His newest record, Bearings, a collection of improvisation-based music that reflects upon the relationship between movement and place, was released last fall. You can read more about Bearings here, stream it on all platforms here, and order the album in CD, vinyl, or digital formats here.

For more about Ben and his work, please visit bencosgrove.com.