Ommie Wise

Ommie Wise sings of forsaken love, the hope of deliverance, apathy and action, what it feels like to wake up to the moon and fall asleep to the sun with your shoes on. They play guitars and banjos, fiddles and clarinets, autoharps and upright basses, a typewriter, a harmonium, and a piano, trading these instruments when it is appropriate.

The New York based group is composed of multi-instrumentalists Jessy Carolina, Mario J. Maggio, Noah Harley, Carlos J. St. Ana and Mike Ellison. Having all been friends for several years, and having collaborated with each other on various musical projects, the group traveled to Copenhagen, Denmark, to record their first album of original music. Living and working in Wind Some Lose Some’s attic studio for several weeks, the group worked intermittently over the afternoon hours and late into the night, trading ideas and instruments, re-working their material until they could say that it worked. From time to time, they would set up in a pedestrian shopping street and play New Orleans Trad-Jazz to buy groceries.

The result is their debut self-titled album, recorded and produced by Anders Christopherson and available from Wind Some Lose Records. It is new music, in that it was recorded recently and intended for contemporary ears, but draws from the deep-well-spring of American folk music: from the ache in Jimmy Rodger’s yodel, Jelly Roll’s stomp, the earthly eagerness of the Carter Family’s devotion, the hint of desperation in Charlie Patton’s seemingly self-assured growl.

CONTACT:   ommiewise@wslsrecords.com

MUSIC:  You can download our album on iTunes.

There is a physical record that Ommie Wise made with Wind Some Lose Some Records.  They are available for you in select corners of the internet, or you can talk to us directly.  We also have the same songs available on a CD now.

Ommie Wise is made of:

Jessy Carolina

Mario J. Maggio

Noah Harley

and occasionally:

Mike Ellison

Carlos J. St. Ana

Justin Frye on upright bass

Jonny Lam on steel guitar