Join us as we head back to 2017 to hear music from Andrew Bird, a prolific folk artist and Grammy Award nominee, as well as Leif Vollebekk, an effervescent Canadian folk multi-instrumentalist/songwriter. Nick also sits down with Tom Chappell, co-founder of Tom’s of Maine and Rambler’s Way, to discuss the marriage of values and business.
Andrew Bird
Andrew Bird is an internationally acclaimed, Grammy-nominated multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, whistler, and songwriter. Since beginning his recording career in 1997, Bird has released 18 albums and performed extensively across the globe, headlining concerts at Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera House, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, and festivals worldwide. Bird has been a featured TED Talks presenter, a New Yorker Festival guest, and an op-ed contributor for the New York Times. He performed as the Whistling Caruso in Disney’s The Muppets and scored the FX Series Baskets. Shortly after receiving his 2020 Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album, with My Finest Work Yet, Bird made his professional acting debut in the cast of Fargo‘s fourth season. Bird’s latest album, Sunday Morning Put-On (2024), finds him re-immersed in a lifelong love of mid-century, small group jazz and the Great American Songbook.
Leif Vollebekk
Leif Vollebekk is an acclaimed singer-songwriter originally from Ottawa who now resides in Montreal, Canada. The artist has sold-out headlining tours across North America, Europe and Australia. His first Secret City Records release, Twin Solitude, was a breakthrough album, landing a spot on the Polaris Music Prize 2017 shortlist, a Juno nomination and gathering over 60 million streams. His follow-up, New Ways, confirmed his undeniable talent and surpassed Twin Solitude in streaming. “[His] songs […] are pensive and restless, blossoming with stream-of-consciousness verses that bear the marks of long nights spent alone on the road,” according to The New York Times.
Music from Leif has been heard in TV shows such as Netflix’s Feel Good and Lovesick, HBO’s The New Pope, The Bold Type, Wisdom of the Crowd and more.
Tom Chappell
In 1968, Tom and Kate Chappell left Philadelphia, where Tom worked for an insurance company, and moved to rural Kennebunk, Maine. As part of their goal to simplify their lives, they sought out natural, unprocessed foods and, unadulterated products.
Unable to find natural personal care options for themselves and their children, in 1970 Tom and Kate decided to create and sell their own. They began with a $5,000 loan from a friend and the philosophy that their products would not harm the environment.
From this small start, Tom’s of Maine grew and developed into a different kind of company, one based on the belief that people and nature deserve respect.