In February, Mighty Oaks, an acoustic folk rock trio out of Berlin that I’ve written about here often, released their album Howl in Europe. Luckily, I have music friends across the pond who procured a digital copy for me. I have literally not stopped playing it for the last three + months. The music is pure, beautiful in its simplicity – songs of friendship, love, loss, grief, and embracing life. Listening to the record feels like looking through a well-loved photo album, and it puts me at peace. I am utterly smitten with it.

Although lead singer Ian Hooper is American, the band is based in Berlin, and is multi-national:  guitar/mandolin/everything player Claudio Donzelli is Italian, and bassist Craig Saunders is British.  Hooper moved to Germany after finishing college, and until March, had never played as a band in his home country.  But, interest from labels brought them to the States earlier this spring, and saw them play in Los Angeles, at SXSW, and in New York City.  While on their trek, they were accompanied by a friend who shot a mini-documentary on their journey.  The band released “A Place That I Know” in three five-minute segments over the last few weeks.  I’m not sure how anyone could watch this and not be cheering for these guys to make it… The way they talk about the music they make together, the obvious admiration and love they have for each other, and their smiles and laughter are enough to win my heart over (and the toast to Ian’s mom in part 3 makes me tear up every time; his mom passed away in 2012 and several of the band’s songs reference her or tell her story).

So…here, in all three parts… ” A Place That I Know.”  Good luck with not falling in love with them!

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