Downtown Countdown - DuplicatePerformers

Holly Forbes

Holly Elizabeth Forbes is a unique vocalist who has a honey-sweet tone and a signature soulful sound. She is best known for her Top 10 appearance on Season 21 of The Voice, and for her performances with her band, Holly & The Guy.

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The Pigment Sanctuary

Enjoy a fire dancing performance by The Pigment Sanctuary, a unique artistic collective which recently planted roots in downtown Princeton in their first bricks & mortar location. The collective brings together the collaborative minds of creators from all over the East coast to build a sanctuary of Art at events ranging from music festivals to craft fairs, to galleries and more.

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Shannon Gerasimchik

Shannon Gerasimchik, a finalist on Season 7 of Halloween Wars on Food Network and a Gold Medal ice carver, will wow and amaze you as he transforms large blocks of ice into a New Year's masterpiece!

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JE'DAH MADISON

Je’dah is a 19 year old native from Princeton, West Virginia. She has toured and traveled extensively as an artist with The One Voice Project. She has a taste for R&B, Soul and FunK. She is heavily influenced by artists like India Arie, Brandy, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Tori Kelly, and H.E.R. This young artist's style is deep, introspective and soulful. She's a lively performer, and sets a beautiful vibe with any venue she steps into. A key player the creative movement of downtown Princeton, she is a barista with the Appalachian Coffee House in the Mercer Street Grassroots District.

jedahpalmer.com

Option 22

This infectious, eclectic Americana groove is led by powerful, yet blissfully soothing vocals dancing atop a smooth, soulful flow. Positive lyrics inspire unity and call for change. Based in Princeton, Lori McKinney (vocals, drums, spoken word) and Robert Blankenship (guitar, hand-drums, didgeridoo) have been writing & playing music together since 2004. Now infusing the mix are the highly skilled & ever-flowing bass lines of Brandon Dunn, the rock solid, hard hitting rhythms of Ary'an Graham (drums) and the soulful guitar stylings of Jacob Brooks (lead guitar). As a group, they understand the power of music to heal & transform, and they use their creative gifts to make a positive impact on the world around them. Robert & Lori live and work within a multi-purpose creative zone they created in downtown Princeton, The RiffRaff Arts Collective, which is revitalizing a once dark, depressed area with color and life. The other musicians orbit around the collective, bringing their talents and spirits around often, forming a sphere of creativity and good vibes. option22.net

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In Loving Memory of Charlie Tee

The Carpenter Ants

The broadcast will feature a set performed by The Carpenter Ants at last year's Downtown Countdown, in loving memory of the incomparable Charlie Tee, who passed this month, leaving behind countless amounts of adoring friends and fans. Even the best bands come and go but the Carpenter Ants have been around – with virtually the same lineup – for 25 years. The Ants have defied the odds and outlasted most of their peers for a number of reasons. First and foremost, after more than 2,000 performances, regardless of the occasion, the band never fails to have a good time – and that feeling is contagious.

WV’s premier rhythm & blues group, the Ants – guitarist Michael Lipton, drummer Jupiter Little, bassist Ted Harrison and vocalist/saxophonist Charlie Tee – have quietly amassed a resume that rivals many national groups. The group’s trademark country-soul sound – rich, soulful harmonies, stinging solos and a rock-solid rhythm section – captures that rare, loose-but-tight feel, and has won the band international as well as regional fans. The Ants have twice traveled to Moscow. The trips found the group performing at a variety of venues including the 3,500-seat Russia Concert Hall, the city’s most prestigious room, a Letterman-style TV show with a national audience of 100 million (!!), funky clubs and gaudy casinos. carpenterants.net

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James Hart

James is a talented blues/soul songwriter and musician, shining light at Stages Music School in downtown Princeton and has performed at Culturefest for the past 10 years with multiple acts. A prolific writer, he's written over 70 songs. He says, "Music has always been a major part of my life; I see it as a way to deal with life and sometimes a way to not deal with life; I believe it is the art of creating emotion. In my solo work, I write what I have experienced either directly or indirectly and I try to play music that makes people happy, so most of what I write comes from that. But I don't want to just make them happy, I want to make them think about their relationships and the people they love, in hopes of helping them somehow deal with and reflect on the good and the bad in a positive way. After all, if you take away the cars and the houses and all the materialistic things, all we have left is each other.”

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Jeremy Nattagh

French multi-instrumentalist and sound engineer Jeremy Nattagh creates compositions that take listeners on a sonic journey. His goal is to get people to dance and to dream, and ultimately, to make the world a better place. He has toured extensively in Europe and around the globe at festivals, museums and French TV & Radio. Notable performances include Sziget Festival in Hungary (with 500,000 in attendance), Blackwoodstock Festival in China, Reth Festival and Gandhi University in India and TedX talk. He was featured at Culturefest Cyber-Celebration, another production of The RiffRaff Arts Collective, in 2020.

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