Monday - March 20, 2017
Over the course of the last year Epiphone has been gearing up for the huge launch of a new guitar lone. Their Masterbilt Century guitar was designed with classic lines and tone that fits many Indie and Americana artists perfectly. They approached us with a need to not only capture the beauty of this new guitar, but also the sound in many various settings to show off how diverse it is.
We interviewed more than 30 artists over the past year and had them play some of their favorite songs with it. Here are a few of our favorites!
Margo Price – It Ain’t Drunk Driving
Jonathan Tyler – Hallelujah
Billy Bragg – New England
Black Pistol Fire – Storm Cussin’
Shovels & Rope – St. Anne’s Parade
Monday - October 10, 2016
Austin City Limits Festival is always a time when great musicians flock to Austin in droves and if you are lucky you’ll get to see some non-festival shows while they are in town. That’s exactly what happened with Gibson Guitars and Shakey Graves. Shakey was asked to do a private show for Gibson and we were there to capture the entire show! Here is one of the best songs of the night:
Dearly Departed
We also got to shoot some outstanding portraits and live recordings of Shakey as well!
Shakey Graves @ Gibson
Photographer: Anna Sneed
Location: Gibson Showroom {Austin, Texas}
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If you like what you’ve seen and are really into Shakey Graves, here’s a cut from the set of him without the band. Go check these folks out.. incredible people and performers!
Unlucky Skin/Roll the Bones
Wednesday - July 15, 2015
We’ve worked with Jamie Lin Wilson for a number of years. She’s a great musician and creatively, is always willing to voice her opinion and try different things. So when it came time for her to release her latest record, Holidays & Wedding Rings, it seemed a natural fit for us to continue to do what we’ve always done together… find visuals that compliment her great music.
What started as a small project to shoot some photos for PR and on her website, soon became something that would visually define her venture as a solo artist. One thing that Modern Trade is adamant about when working with musicians is that the music should always be the driving force. All the photography, design and video should be a megaphone to spread the music farther and set it deeper within the listener.
This record would be influenced by her life in South Texas and we knew we needed to capture that first and foremost. Jamie invited us to come out to her house and take a walk with her around the small neighborhood where she lives in D’hanis, Texas. Instantly we started feeling the connection and after a few hours and a few wardrobe changes, we had a solid set of photos that we thought would give some life to her posters and promo photos. You can read a little more on that shoot and see a full set of those here.
In today’s digital world, an album cover or show poster is probably one of things that has become less important over time. But physical things you can touch and feel and look upon can create a very tangible feeling for people. Jamie was uncomprimising about creating great versions of these and we were blown away with what album art designer, Javi Garcia and poster designer Chris King were able to do with some of the photos.
After sitting on the photos for a few months, we all realized that what we had captured was really aligning with how the music was coming together, in the studio. The photos became the anchor of her website and we knew we needed to press further into creating some new things that would focus on the new record. We started brainstorming some ideas for some live recordings and a short video. These are the types of things that as a musician, she could send to new venues and not only let them hear how she sounds, but get a taste of what her whole performance can look & feel like.
Using the historic Floores Country Store dance floor as a backdrop, we laid down three songs in a single take. Jamie wanted more than a solo acoustic video, she wanted to show off what she had been doing in the studio and what people could expect as a full band. We multi-tracked all the audio, did full studio mixes and set up a look for the band that showed the polish of something rehearsed but kept the rowdiness of something live.
Just Like Heartache
When it’s all said and done, making music is a musicians passion and the album will stand the test of time as the direct result of that. With Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube, etc… it opens up a number of opportunities to let people discover that music and visuals are a huge part of each of those avenues. We are thankful for people like Jamie, that understand when someones sees you play online… what they see first will prepare them for what they are about to hear.
Holidays & Wedding Rings
The feedback on the recordings and photos has been outstanding and seeing all the different ways Jamie has been able to point back to her music, using our visuals has been incredible. This has been an amazing project and we are amazed at the success she is seeing as a result of the new album!
We’ll leave you with the final two performances at Floores that we recorded for Jamie. Enjoy!
UPDATE: Jamie asked us to record another live performance at Cheatham Street which you can see below!
You Left My Chair
Yours And Mine
Just Some Things
Night Time Blues
Here Tonight
Liner Notes
Thank you to everyone that helped along the way.
Photography
Ari Morales was the master behind the lens for the photography.
Videos Production, Cameras, etc..
Ben Hester, Ari Morales, Chip Weiss and Ryan Hargrave on setting the looks and running the cameras… you guys were incredible.
Sound Engineering
Alex Adamitis is the king at finding the right sound in any room.
Friday - December 5, 2014
As we finish the full release of our recordings from this years Southern Gospel Revival, we’d like to share a few photos of the performances that day. These musicians got together, some for the first time ever, early in the morning and began putting these songs together right on the spot. Every single person had input to how and what they would play in relation to what the lead had in mind.
It was magical in every sense of the word. Everyone in their element with the only limiting factor being what instruments we had on hand and how much sunlight was left on the horizon. Have a look and let your mind wander through the conversations and creativity that was born that day.
Recording
Photographer: Anna Sneed
Location: Schneider Hall {Columbus, Texas}
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Photographer: Meg Ruffing
Location: Schneider Hall {Columbus, Texas}
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Friday - March 7, 2014
Transition is never easy for a musician.. especially when going from a full robust band to taking on everything solo. But that’s exactly what Jamie Lin Wilson is doing these days since The Trishas decided to take a break from touring for a while. Needing to not only find a voice of her own, Jamie wanted some visuals to rework her website, send out promo shots and use as backdrops for show posters and announcements.
Her latest writing has been heavily influenced by her South Texas surroundings near her home in D’hanis, Texas… so that’s where we went to capture a little piece of what makes Jamie’s writing so incredible and honest. From the house that served as a writing haven to an old fallen down church, these photos are packed full of everything that she see’s and is inspired by on a daily basis. More importantly… they are filled with things that you’ll hear spring from her music.
Photographer: Ari Morales
Location: D’hanis, Texas
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Wednesday - May 15, 2013
We have too many things to show you!!!! Please bear with us as we’re reworking this work sections to make it easier to see everything that we do. We simply had too many projects to sort through and it was just messy.
You’ll find a few of our recent music projects below and you can see more of our video work over on Vimeo. All the photo work will come back when we relaunch our portfolio soon.
If you’d like some samples or want to talk more, give us an email at hello@themoderntrade.com
Thanks!
Thursday - February 28, 2013
Think back to the time when there was no A/C, work was manual and people would come from miles around to be part of a “revival” on a hot Sunday afternoon. Men, women and children would pile into a hot wooden hall and listen to music that would set their soul on fire. It was simple, honest and it would give many musicians a solid foundation to make it big in other types of music.
As homage to that, we took four great musicians, some old Southern Gospel and made our own Revival that is both traditional yet a little reworked.
All songs are single takes with no overdubs and all heart. We hope you enjoy it. Click through to see all 4 videos and photos of A Southern Gospel Revival