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Hungrytown is the self-titled release from the award-winning songwriting team of Rebecca Hall and Ken Anderson. Married since 1994, Rebecca and Ken have toured many thousands of miles over the last few years, earning their keep playing gigs throughout the United States and Europe. Their music has been greatly enriched by the places they've traveled, as evidenced by the broad range of styles on this album, which brings together bluegrass, classic country and soul, Celtic folk, old-time balladry and retro pop styles.

Hungrytown was recorded up and down the east coast, between gigs, by way of their mobile studio, Song Catcher Recording, recalling the semi-fictionalized film about musical folklorist, Olive Dame Campbell. Rebecca and Ken believe in bringing the studio to the musician, and as a result, the album’s recording spaces include a converted barn in New York’s Catskills, a double-wide in the Blue Ridge mountains of central Virginia, and an old brick and wood meeting house on a Vermont hillside. Among the many guest players on Hungrytown are Michael Merenda and Ruth Ungar Merenda (banjo and fiddle), who comprise the core of the celebrated folk supergroup, the Mammals, as well as Zack Deming (banjo), Charles Frazier (guitar), Donnie Shifflett (bass) and Jeff Vogelgesang (guitar and mandolin), who make up one of the south’s top bluegrass bands, the Virginia Ramblers.

Rebecca, who has a knack for penning tunes that sound like time-tested classics, wrote most of the songs on the album. She has been dubbed "a new folk classicist" by the Boston Herald, and her composition “Hungrytown Road” won second prize at the Minnesota Folk Festival's New Folk Songwriting Contest in 2005. That same year, legendary Nashville songsmith David Olney, who has written for Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris and Linda Rondstadt, included his version of Rebecca’s “O Lord” on his highly-acclaimed 2005 release, Migration. Her clear, haunting alto has prompted Roger McGuinn to rave, “I love the sound of Rebecca Hall’s voice. There’s a sweetness, and a worldly wisdom, in perfect balance.”

Ken Anderson, who produced and arranged Hungrytown, plays multiple instruments throughout the recording, including drums, percussion, Hammond B3, harmonica, bass and guitar as well as singing harmony with Rebecca. His distinctive production style is the result of an eclectic musical education, performing in countless punk, soul, rock, and 60s-style pop bands in New York City and elsewhere. The result is no purist folk album, but a recording that demonstrates a reverence for American songcraft spanning many shades and decades. Lately, Rebecca and Ken have been combining their writing talents, and their co-written ballad, "Lucille, Lucille," won third prize at the Great Waters Folk Festival Songwriting Contest in 2007.

The cover for Hungrytown was created by the venerated poster press of Hatch Show Print in Nashville, which designed posters for virtually all the country greats, including the Carter Family, Hank Williams, Loretta Lynn and Elvis. Hungrytown also includes an extensive 16-page booklet, featuring the work of world-renowned husband-and-wife photography team Gentl & Hyers.

Rebecca and Ken tour the country in the famous Blue Meanie. This remarkable, fuel efficient, solar paneled and, well, blue customized camper van was designed by Ken to serve as a fully-equipped, four-season home, office, studio and Conestoga wagon for their instruments and sound system–-all in under 22 feet! When they're not kicking up dust or snow, Rebecca & Ken live in a remote cottage deep in the hills of southern Vermont.

Together with folk-pop icons the Kennedys and Chris Thompson, Rebecca & Ken are also members of the Strangelings, described by Wikipedia as a “folk jam band.” Their debut CD, Season of the Witch features three songs penned by Rebecca. The Strangelings performed as one of the main headlining acts for the 2007 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival.

FOR STRANGELINGS TOUR DATES, CLICK HERE.