The Faux Paws with Ava Earl

The Faux Paws

would be hard to pin down with standard genre descriptions.  The trio’s contagious groove, and feel-good melting pot folk music has been honed over ten years of playing together, and is the sound of three close friends (two of which happen to be brothers), who feel a musical kinship that transcends any stylistic limitations.   Now, after nearly a decade of music making, the bi-coastal trio are releasing their self-titled debut album “The Faux Paws”

Brothers Andrew and  Noah VanNorstrand grew up playing contra dance music with their musician mother in the band Great Bear. Chris Miller grew up in Florida, and he was enamored with bluegrass, and studied jazz before going on to play with GRAMMY nominated Cajun-country band The Revelers.  Since meeting in 2012, the trio have toured across North America several times, sometimes under the name The Faux Paws, sometimes as part of other larger ensembles.   But due to their commitments to other bands and musical projects, the timing was never right to focus on making The Faux Paws a priority.  Instead, they took their time learning about different styles of music from one another, and finding where their interests and skills could create unexpected and exciting new sounds. “I love super glossy pop music, and Chris is always pushing more of a jazz influence” says Noah.. “But we all have a strong background in dance music, so almost everything we do has rhythm and groove, and is based around hook and feel”. 

It may have taken The Faux Paws ten years to make their debut album, but those years have clearly not gone to waste.  Now, with an experimental but cohesive vision, the trio brings together seemingly unrelated musical elements into one joyful and distinctive collection, deeply rooted in the raw humanity of folk dance and music traditions. 

Ava Earl

The phrase, “Ava, you are a lot,” has been a familiar refrain in the life of Alaska singer-songwriter Ava Earl. Uttered with loving amusement by her parents, mild frustration by more than one teacher, and joyful admiration by a few key mentors, this notion of “being a lot” is at the heart of her latest studio album, fittingly titled, Too Much. 

Earl is currently a senior at Northwestern University, located just outside of Chicago, where she’s channeling her near boundless energy into a packed schedule of academics, athletics, and of course, music. Her studies include political science, critical theory, and creative writing. Before and after class, she’s also racking up some serious mileage as a member of the school’s NCAA Division-I cross country running and track teams. Somewhere in there, she also writes music. 

Having opened for the likes of Maggie Rogers while still in high school and releasing four albums by the time she was 18, Earl has already solidified herself in the Americana scene as an emerging artist. She made a big step up in 2021 with her album The Roses, produced by GRAMMY-nominated JT Nero. Well received by Americana UK, Holler, and American Songwriter, several songs were featured on Spotify editorial playlists, with “Mountain Song” amassing more than 100,000 streams. 

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