Judging by his Brylcreem-parted hair, high-waisted pants, and spellbinding voice full of existential anguish, listeners might think that Frank Fairfield stepped straight from the Appalachian mountains of a century ago. Far from it: the 25-year-old native of California's central valley spent his early career busking in the streets of Los Angeles with his fiddle and banjo before signing with the New York folk music label Tompkins Square and garnering national attention opening for Fleet Foxes on their 2008 tour.

Frank recently released his second album, Out On The Open West, featuring originals full of integrity and age-old grit that bear out Frank’s words about his own music: “I just want to feel that I’m trying to walk in the tradition . . . I want to get back to hold ground on something. I feel like a lot of us are just floating around in the air with nothing . . . the meaning of the word ‘original,’ meaning really having to do with the origin, that’s what I’m interested in. I’m interested in the origin of things.”

Don't miss this chance for a dose of inexorably authentic music from this up-and-coming talent!