Hilary Gardner and the lonesome pines
Alaska-raised, New York City-based vocalist Hilary Gardner and her band, The Lonesome Pines, transport audiences to the nostalgic heart of the American West. The group has performed to sold-out houses in some of New York City’s most esteemed venues, including Dizzy’s Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center and Birdland.
Their award-winning debut album, On the Trail with The Lonesome Pines (Anzic Records), was produced by Eli Wolf (Norah Jones, Cassandra Wilson, Willie Nelson), and features songs by jazz and film composers like Johnny Mercer, Frank Loesser, Benny Carter, and other stalwarts of the Great American Songbook.
The group’s live shows paint high spirited and harmonious soundscapes of the archetypal cowboy’s life on the trail—replete with pale dawns, purple hills, and the high lonesome feeling of camping out beneath a vast, star-filled sky. Says Gardner, “These songs remind us that the answers to many of life’s big questions can be found in contemplative solitude, the beauty of the natural world, and the arms of a loved one.”
Awards
WINNER: 2025 Western Heritage Award for OUTSTANDING Traditional Western Album
#7 of 20 Best Jazz Albums of 2024 - The Times of London
WINNER: Best New Vinyl Release of 2024 - Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity
Top 5 Finalist for Western Album of the Year - International Western Music Association
Performance reel - filmed live at Dizzy’s Club (Jazz at Lincoln Center)
SELECTED Past APPEARANCES
Dizzy’s Club/Jazz at Lincoln Center (NYC) - SOLD OUT
Birdland (NYC) - SOLD OUT
WNYC New Standards - live, in-studio performance for Paul Cavalconte’s holiday show
WBGO Singers Unlimited
Huntington Summer Arts Festival (Long Island, NY)
The Mainstay (Rock Hall, Maryland) - SOLD OUT
Mezzrow (NYC) - SOLD OUT
Upcoming APPEARANCES
Deer Head Inn (Delaware Water Gap, PA) - May 31, 2025
Rochester International Jazz Festival (Rochester, NY) - June 21 and 22, 2025
Crazy Coqs (London, U.K.) June 28, 2025
International Architecture Biennale (Venice, Italy) July 4-6, 2025
Mezzrow (New York, NY) September 7, 2025
Kuumbwa Jazz Center (Santa Cruz, CA) October 2, 2025
The Sound Room (Oakland, CA) October 3, 2025
Meyhouse Jazz (Palo Alto, CA) October 4, 2025
Keys Jazz Bistro (San Francisco, CA) October 5, 2025
The Local (Saugerties, NY) December 6, 2025
Birdland Theater (New York, NY) December 7, 2025
selected PRESS
Click each image to read full piece.
“Silver on the Sage” recorded exclusively for Vintage Guitar Magazine
PRESS QUOTES
“...something new and wondrous. ”
“…a delightful innocence, tempered by Tin Pan Alley wit and romance and a drowsy desert atmosphere to soothe 21st-century woes. ★★★★”
“Ms. Gardner’s delicate, winsome approach rises into an exalted realm of feeling and experience common only to the finest interpretive singers.”
“...her golden tone and vocal ease shine beautifully…soulful and hypnotizing.”
“ …an unjustly neglected corner of the Great American Songbook: the rich vein of swinging tunes from the accomplished pens of Johnny Mercer, Frank Loesser, and others, written in the 1930s and ‘40s for the singing cowboys of stage and screen. This is not the historical American West, but it’s a powerful fantasy implanted in our collective imagination… ”
Photo: Margherita Andreani
Photo: Margherita Andreani
Album info
PERSONNEL:
Hilary Gardner: Vocals
Justin Poindexter: guitars, mandolin, organ, background vocals
Noah Garabedian: bass
Aaron Thurston: drums, percussion
Sasha Papernik: accordion (tracks 4 and 5)
Recorded by Lily Wen at Figure 8 Recording, Brooklyn, NY
Mixed by Teddy Tuthill
Mastered by Dave Darlington
Produced By Eli Wolf
Released March 8, 2024 on Anzic Records
