Todd Kessler, "The Voice" Contestant Talks "The New Folk"

Todd Kessler, Season 3 "The Voice" contestant joins Mary E.. Kessler is the front man for The New Folk, a band out of Chicago. They are getting ready to appear on the Bud Light stage at the annual "The Taste of Chicago" July 13th. 

The New Folk celebrated the release of their debut album, Sea Fever, with an August 2012 “Practice Space Presents” residency at Schuba's Tavern, but the story behind The New Folk began in 2005 as singer/songwriter Todd Kessler went in to the studio to record his debut album. That album, entitled We Are The MusicMakers, was released in 2006 and with the backing of his original band helped Kessler to make his name in the local Chicago music scene.  In 2007 and 2008, in the midst of touring the Midwest, Kessler teamed up with Producer Greg Magers to record his next two albums, the Veronika EP and Boomerang, only garnering him more praise and recognition on the road and at home. It was while recording Veronika that The New Folk began to take root with the addition of Bob Parlier on drums, Sam Smiley on guitar and Graham Burris on bass. The quartet began playing out in 2008 in support of Boomerang, still under the name of Todd Kessler, but it was during the next two years and the addition of a string section (Elana Hiller and Chris Bauler), a horn section (David Ben-Porat and Ben Bell Bern) and a second vocalist (Molly Parlier) that the band began to make waves with their signature alternative folk/pop sound. 2009’s double-single release “Golden Bird,” along with headlining shows at Schuba's, Lincoln Hall, Double Door and Millennium Park, solidified the band’s place as a respected group in Chicago, and in 2010, the band began playing shows under the name Todd Kessler and the New Folk.