In 2008 Ari Hest decided it was time to take more creative control over his music and parted ways with his record label. Utilizing all the technology available to him, he launched his highly successful 52 project, a web based subscription service that found him writing, recording, and releasing a new song every Monday for an entire year. Performing Songwriter called these songs “high-caliber and heartfelt.” At the end of the year, the subscribers were asked to vote for their 12 favorite songs from the project and the ones that got the most votes were then reworked and digitally released in the form of the album Twelve Mondays in early 2009. Ari is also in three bands that have recorded albums over the past few years: The Open Sea with Rosi Golan, Bluebirds of Paradise with Chrissi Poland, and most recently a duets album with Judy Collins called Silver Skies Blue, which was nominated for a Grammy award for “Best Folk Album” of 2017. 

Ari continued to explore his songwriting and has since recorded several albums containing his always insightful lyrics and varied instrumentation. Ari has built his career the old-fashioned way, doing 150 dates a year for the better part of the last decade. He has even added Europe into the mix through multiple tours in Ireland, Czech Republic, Germany and Belgium. Film and television helped expanding Ari’s fan base by playing his songs numerous times on shows such as Private Practice and One Tree Hill, and he scored the film Dreamriders, which won numerous independent film awards, and also featured several of Ari’s songs. Ari’s recently released CD, Natural, is getting rave reviews from fans and music critics alike.

Photo: Chrissi Poland

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The Whispering Tree are singer/songwriter Eleanor Kleiner and multi-instrumentalist Elie Brangbour. With their deep-reaching sound, haunting vocals and vivid lyrics, this Franco/American duo have been captivating audiences around the world since meeting at music school in London. Their eponymous debut EP and subsequent full-length album, Go Call The Captain were heavily influenced by their travels abroad, which have taken them from their home base in New York to South America to Macau (China). After relocating to the Hudson River Valley, The Whispering Tree released their follow-up EP, The Escape and were honored to lend their voices to Pete Seeger and Lorre Wyatt’s, A More Perfect Union. While working on new material for their fourth release (due early 2018) The Whispering Tree have released several singles re-imagining classic rock tunes as plaintive, harmony driven folk songs and have returned to Europe for tours in The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and France.

• . . . Hest is blessed with a mature, take-no-prisoners voice and warhorse work ethic Music Connection
• efficient, vivid songwriting and rich, mature voice. . . Rolling Stone
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• The Whispering Tree tastily combine wistful folk, mellow rock and pinches of gypsy jazz and bluegrass into a compelling compilation of tightly written tunes. Keyboard Magazine
• The fullness and deepness of their sound was astounding. . .their musical influence filled the entirety of the room. Examiner.com

• Ari Hest’s

• Website | Video | Interview

• The Whispering Tree’s

• Website | Video