Zachary Cale

Zachary Cale is a songwriter originally hailing from the small town of Enon, Louisiana. His music ranges from lyrical folk balladry and American primitive inspired guitar instrumentals to experiments in popular song forms. Over the span of 6 years he has released four full length albums, Outlander Sessions (2005), Walking Papers (2008), a full band rock record See-Saw (2008) under the name Illuminations, and most recently the critically acclaimed Noise of Welcome (2011). He has toured extensively throughout the U.S. and in Europe, often performing alone with only an acoustic guitar, but has been known to perform with a revolving cast of musicians whom he calls The Rain Band. Upon the release of his sophomore album Walking Papers Cale was described by New Jersey’s, WFMU as a “songwriter’s songwriter” with a writing style comparable to the greats like Bob Dylan, Townes Van Zandt, and Leonard Cohen. In concert his melodically complex guitar playing has been compared to Neil Young and Bert Jansch with nods to pre-war Piedmont and Ragtime players such as Blind Willie McTell and Mississippi John Hurt. In a full band setting Cale has been known to strap on an electric, adopting a style and delivery that flies closer to country-tinged rock songwriters such as Alex Chilton, Ray Davies and Tom Petty. Since the release of Noise of Welcome Cale has toured the U.S. with D. Charles Speer & The Helix, completed his first European tour including performances at the No Mean City Festival (Glasgow), the Incubate Festival (Netherlands), Festival de Pilar (Spain) and Reeperbahn Festival (Germany), released a new 7″ single on Dull Knife Records, performed at the End of the Road Festival in the UK sharing a stage with artists like Robyn Hitchcock, Justin Townes Earle and Deer Tick, and completed another successful European tour sharing dates with The Black Swans and Six Organs of Admittance. He is a co-founder of the record label All Hands Electric who has released records by an eclectic roster of bands such as Virginia Plain, Test House, The Gang Violets, Psychobuildings, Woodsy Pride, Plates of Cake, Peter’s House Music, Man Benu and Prudence Teacup. 2013 will see the release of Blue Rider, the much anticipated follow up album to Noise of Welcome.